Dekka was woken by her head thumping on the ceiling. She'd been lifting stuff in her sleep again.
After carefully manoeuvring her bed back to the cabin floor, she made breakfast. Nutella – AGAIN. It was practically all she ever ate. There wasn't much of a food shortage, but what they did have, they had a lot of. Like Nutella.
By the time she was dressed, she was already feeling bored. Most days she did – well – nothing. Not even helping out at the construction site much anymore, since Edilio had started giving out stuff to the kids who turned up to work. Dekka had wondered many times what the point of her actually WAS. She didn't do much that nobody else could do. She didn't have anybody who would miss her. Of course, that was why she did keep on going. So, one day, Brianna would miss her.
Fat chance.
She wandered down the lake side. Oh no. Someone was coming. She hated talking to people. She got so many funny looks.
When he got closer, she could see he was Jack. She was a bit relieved (it wasn't Brianna) and a bit not (it was awkward after last night's conversation.). Too late to turn the other way, she had no choice but to talk to him.
'Hey, Dekka,' he said. He didn't appear to be awkward.
'Oh, hi Jack. Where are you going?' Dekka said. She wanted to make sure she wasn't going to have to walk with him the whole way.
'I'm going to try and rewire these on the beach!' He held up one of the Apple Macs excitedly.
'Cool. Too bad I'm going the other way….' Dekka said.
'Uh, Dekka? You were going to the beach?'
'Oh, you mean THAT beach? Yeah, I was heading in that general sort of direction….' She trailed off.
'Ok then! Come to the beach with me?' To her surprise, Dekka found herself accepting Jack's invitation. It was better than just wandering around all day….
They walked to the beach in silence. It was a bit awkward after Dekka asking Jack to try and get Dekka his girlfriend. Plus, she always had thought he was an annoying nerd.
When they got there it was empty, which was unusual as normally it was crowded on a hot day like this. Dekka wasn't sure what to do – Jack just ignored her, sat down and started clicking away like mad. Typical.
She just sat there for a couple of minutes. She hadn't brought her swimming things and she didn't want to interrupt Jack's work by talking. Mercifully, John Terrafino and his crew turned up a couple of minutes later with the littlest children.
'Hey Dekka!' John said cheerfully. He was one of the few people Dekka actually had a good relationship with.
'Hi John. Do you need any help with the kids?' Ever since Mary and Francis, the two main people who ran the nursery with John had poofed, he was struggling to find enough volunteers.
'That'd be great Dekka! Will you help me watch them please? They can't swim, so we have to be really careful….' John looked relieved at another person to help.
Dekka had a good time playing with the children and helping them make sand castles. It was only when the battery ran out on Jack's computer that he started being sociable.
'Shall I walk up and get some lunch?' offered Jack.
'Thanks. I was going to share with John, but if you're bringing some…. Oh, and would you bring a swimming costume please?' Dekka replied.
'I thought he was never going to say anything!' John laughed once Jack was gone.
'I know! But after all, he IS a nerd, what can we expect?' Dekka said teasingly.
Soon Jack was back with some lunch. It was nice, eating lunch with her friends like a normal person. Dekka was glad that Jack had finally forced her to stop being such a loner. If she hadn't come to the beach, she would have just spent all day mooning on her own.
One of the toddlers ran up to them. 'Please come in the water, we can't go in unless an adult is with us!' Dekka looked round. John and Jack were both still eating.
'I'll go,' she said. Soon she was splashing about with the little kids, making tidal waves with her power.
Then John said they were going to go home. Jack looked at the sky. It was getting dark.
'We'd better go too, Dekka,' he said. Dekka climbed out of the water and back into her clothes, and then walked back with Jack, making small conversation.
It wasn't until she was in bed that Dekka realised what was different about today. Up until now, she hadn't thought about Brianna once.
It was a good feeling. She still loved Brianna, but for the first time in months she hadn't been obsessing over her all day.
Dekka sighed, turned over, and fell asleep.