AN

Everybody calls everybody a spy, secretly, in Russia, and everybody is under surveillance. You never feel safe.
Agnes Smedley

Default title (the one I was going to use if I couldn't find a cool quote): In Case You Need To Make Some Jam

Thanks to maniacinthemaking, kipper22, esyuen, Helewisetran, Hanski, nabela, and all other readers.

I was lucky that Jared had decided to come to this spot. I knew every nook and cranny of this beach from all of the times we'd come here as kids. It wasn't a very big space, definitely not as big as First Beach, but, as we had learned as children playing hide-and-seek, there were plenty of great places for several people to 'see, but not be seen'.

But today I was here working alone, which had its ups and downs.

UP: I can fit in more places when I'm by myself, and I don't have Kim there to nag me about how I might not be able to get out of somewhere.

DOWN: There's no one to help me out when I get stuck.

UP: I don't have to listen to nagging of any kind.

DOWN: It gets lonely.

UP: It's a lot easier to stay quiet.

DOWN: There's no one to bounce ideas off of.

UP: There's no one to criticize every idea that you try to bounce off of them.

DOWN: Ever tried to hide alone? It makes you have to pee really bad.

Some of the questions that I really needed to have bouncing around were:

Why wasn't he wearing a shirt? (Not that I was complaining)

What was he doing here?

Why was he alone?

I watched him pace across the beach. Was this where he came to think too?

There was a noise behind me. I slowly turned my head over my right shoulder. I yelped when, instead of the bear I was expecting, there was a guy behind me.

"What the hell?" I said with as much power as one can put into a whisper.

"Sorry, I was...walking...in the forest," the boy (who wasn't really a boy, more of a man, but saying man makes me think of someone really old in that pedo creeper kind of way. Let's say early twenties, just for clarity) said.

After some stuttered 'Shh's, I managed to come up with this brilliant response, "Shut up!"

He gave me a quizzical look.

"I'm trying to keep a low profile," I explained.

Something about this boy/man/guy was giving me a strange feeling. After some careful thought, I decided that I didn't like it, but by then it was too late.

He'd already thrown me in a burlap sack and tossed me into the back of his 2005 Dodge Sprinter cargo van and we were headed off to Mexico, Russia, or some other God-forsaken Jaredless place.

No, he'd just laid down next to me on the ground (which could've turned just as ugly). We were both on our stomachs (which couldn't've been comfortable for him, being shirtless and all), with our heads propped up on our arms, laying beside one another.

It might've been the general weirdness of the situation or that my right side now felt a couple of degrees warmer than my left, but I missed something very important;

Kim showed up.

It wasn't enough to know that she was here now. I should've been watching to see how she arrived.

You can tell a lot about a person by their entrance (exits too, but that's a different story); their intentions, their confidence, their relations with others. It's why I always work so hard on the way I get in and out of my car.

Right now I could almost assume the worst.

She probably strutted in (projecting her confidence) with her eyes up (showing how she's focused on the future and what's to come) and her shoes making their clickety-clackety sounds (so everyone notices her). That's exactly what the new Kim would do. What the new friend-betraying future-husband-stealing wench, Kim, would do.

"I wish I could hear what they were saying," I said to myself more than the man/guy/boy beside me – I'd almost forgotten he was there.

"She asked him what he was doing here, to which he replied 'It's a public beach', but she got upset and was mumbling about this being her safe haven, hide-and-seek, dead grandmother, then he asked her out and got rejected a couple of times."

I was astounded.

Astounded that some random guy/boy/man would find it amusing to scare some girl by jumping out of a bush in the forest, intrude upon her personal spave, then outright lie to her face.

"There's no way you could hear her mumbling from over here. I have perfect hearing and I can't even hear them talking."

"Right," he replied like a five year old caught in a lie, who just realized he'd said something she shouldn't've, something that didn't make sense.

"Look; I don't need any liars on my team."

"Team?"

"Yeah, Team Myra. The team bent on destroying the evil forces of Kim, saving Jared from her backstabbing and trickery, and reuniting him with his true love; me.

He hesitated, but we made a pact. Just like in grade school, but without the spit. I now had a partner with all the advantages of company, and none of the disadvantages of Kim.

Who is it? It's probably way too obvious. Especially if you've read my old summary.

REVIEW PLEASE. It's the only thing that keeps me writing. And I really want to get to chapter 11 ASAP cause I'm super excited about it! I can't keep shifting up updates where you don't deserve them. Or maybe you just don't like me.

Should I write another chapter?