Her life has been a mess since she was born in New York. Her family was hardly there for her, She wouldn't really consider them family. Her friends always ditched her for their girlfriends or boyfriends. She wasn't cared for at all by anyone. No one cared about what she wanted in her life. No one cared that she was unhappy with the way things were going. She could really careless about anything that happens to her, even if it made her happy.

Around the age of thirteen, she fell in love with singing and dancing. She paid the organizations with her own money. She wanted her family to come to some of her concerts. But, they never came because they were always too "busy" to see her. She hated the word "busy" from her family. She wanted to murder the word.

She finally turned eighteen and moved to California. When she told her family, they didn't care one bit that she was moving. She was starting college in two months and couldn't wait to see what changed in her life would happen. She hoped that they were good ones. Yet, she doubted that anything good would happen to her.

One day that summer, she was sitting in Mona's Bar waiting for her drink to get there. She was in a daze the entire wait. "Excuse me?" the waitress asked snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up.

"Thanks," she said as the waitress set the drink down and walked away.

"Hey, Erika," Johnny said.

"Yeah, Johnny?" she asked as she set her tray down and wiped it off.

He nodded his head in a teenage boy's direction. "Is Bradin okay? He won't talk to anyone."

"I'm not sure. He seems depressed lately. I don't think it's because of the anniversary of his parents' death because it was last month."

Johnny sighed. "Ava is really worried about him," he told Erika, "I think I'm going to try to talk to him." Johnny walked up to Bradin who was sitting at a table for two as he played with his drink. "Hey, B," he said sitting across from the teenager.

He looked up, "Hey, Johnny," he said weakly.

"What's wrong?" Bradin shrugged. "Bradin, everyone is worried about you."

"There's no reason to be," Bradin said looking at Johnny the second time, "I'm fine." Bradin got up and walked out of the bar.

The beach was quiet. It was really odd especially on a hot, steamy day. Bradin walked along the shore a he thought about his life. Nothing was going right anymore. Girls just wanted him for sex. His family wanted him to be something that he's not. His friends weren't exactly his friends. All he wanted was one person who cared about him. It didn't matter to him who it was. Even if it was a younger kid in first grade. He wanted at least one person that cared.

Finally realizing that he wasn't watching where he was walking, he stopped to find himself near the rocky shore. He peered ahead and saw a girl sitting on a rock looking out at the ocean.

"Hi," he said as he walked up to her.

She looked at him. Her beauty took his breath away. She had golden brown hair, beautiful hazel eyes, and with what he could see, an amazing body. she was wearing greyish comfy pants, with a white spaghetti stringed tank top. Her hair was blowing in the wind as she looked at him.

"Hi," she said.

"This seems weird to you, doesn't it?" he asked. She nodded making him smile. "First off, I'm Bradin," he said holding his hand out for her to shake.

"Elie," she said shaking his hand.

"I'm really sorry that I just randomly walked up to you. I saw you here and I guess I didn't want to be alone right now."

"Why don't you go to your friends' or something?"

"They're not really my friends. They act like they are when they want something from me."

"Do you want to sit?" she asked.

"Only if you don't mind," he told her. She moved over a little bit on the rock and made room for him to sit. He sat down and stared out at the ocean. "Can I ask you something?" he asked not looking at her.

"Sure."

"Do you ever feel like you have no one to talk to? No one that cares for you? That everyone in your life is just...there?" he asked.

"All the time," she told him.

"How do you deal with it?"

"Well," she began, "I have never had anyone care about me. So, I guess that I'm just used to it."

He looked at her to find her looking out at the water. She had her legs folded, her arms resting upon her knees, and her chin on her arms. "Are you from around here?" he asked.

"No. I just moved here."

"From where, if you don't mind me asking?"

"New York. My life there was a total mess," she said. She let out a sigh as she thought about her life back in New York. "My family didn't care about me one bit. I had no friends. No one cared about me or what I wanted in life. I needed to get away."

"I feel like I need to get away, too," he told her, "I moved here from Kansas two years ago. Since then, I've changed and I don't know how to go back to the happy me. All I want in life right now is a friend who cares and will be there for me when I need him or her."

"It's the same thing that I want. But, I doubt that I'll ever get it."

"Do you want to be each other's friend? We both want the same thing and you seem like the type of person that I need in my life. It's okay if you don't want to," he said not wanting to push her into something that was just thrown out at her.

She sat there and thought for a few minutes about the question that Bradin just asked her. "We can try it. But, I should warn you. I'm not an interesting person at all."

"I'll be the judge of that."

For hours, thw two teenagers talked to each other about each other. They both laughed a lot, and it felt good to them because they haven't laughed like this in a very long time. It was now getting close to night and the sun was setting.

"I think I should get going," Elie said standing up.

"Where are you staying?" Bradin asked her.

"The apartment complex on Ferry," she said.

"I'll walk you. I don't want anything to happen to you," he said standing up.

"Are you going to get in toruble?" she asked.

"No. I'm looking for an apartment so that I can see what living in the real world is like."

She smiled and they walked to her apartment. "Thanks, Bradin," she said.

"Thank you, too, Elie," he said, "Today has been an amazing day."

She smiled making him smile. "I'll talk to you later?"

"Of course," he said.