Chapter Three

~Day Two~

"Vanessa." Jake whispered gently to wake me up. I rolled onto my stomach, not wanting to get up for the day.

"Wake up."

I groaned loudly and opened my eyes to see Jake's aqua blue eyes. I glared at him, but he only smiled goofily at me. I hit him with my pillow and he laughed.

"Miriam found a place to go parasailing." He said. I groaned again and shook my head.

"I don't like heights though..." I said halfway into the pillow.

"Don't worry." He pulled me out of bed. "They don't allow one person to go up at a time, ever. I'll go up with you and you can hold onto my hand if you want or feel you need to."

I blushed slightly, but not enough for him to notice. I really didn't want to move right now, but Jake pushed my shoulders towards my bag and I put on my swimsuit and board shorts. I pulled a tank over my torso and put on some flip-flops. Miriam was going to pay for making me go parasailing. I knew I would have no choice in the matter, even though she knew I was deathly afraid of heights. I'm surprised I could even go on my balcony that was connected to my room which was on the second story of my house.

We walked out of the cabin and towards Miriam's cabin. They were already out on the small porch of their cabin waiting for us. We waited another ten minutes for James and Macy before we were able to get in the van to leave. Once we were in the van and moving, it didn't take long to get to the parasailing place. It was only a couple of blocks down. We filed out of the van and walked to the small kiosk.

"You just need to sign this consent form and pay a forty-five dollar fee." The guy said after Miriam told him our information. A woman started gathering up the gear and throwing it into the boat. I watched the harness fly into the boat and the parachute get pulled out from under a seat. I swallowed hard and shook my head. I would be fine. We all signed the form and paid and got onto the boat.

"When you get into the gear," the woman began, "lean back, otherwise you'll have a strap going up your butt. When I have you land, and pulled onto the boat, stick your feet forward to catch you so you don't land on your butt too hard, but be careful."

She continued explaining as her helper, the guy working the kiosk, gave us our life jackets. I didn't really pay much attention as I pulled the life jacket on and buckled it. I was already terrified of going up. I wondered if Miriam was going to make me go first or if she was too excited to let anyone else go first.

"I feel like a marshmallow." I said to no one in particular while staring down at the life jacket on me.

"A cute marshmallow." Jake replied, nudging me with a flirty smile on his face. I smiled shyly and blushed. This marshmallow was not cute whatsoever. The life jacket was red, grey, and black. I hated those three colors mixed together. They just didn't look good. Sure, they matched...but in an ugly way.

"Alright." The woman said, stopping the boat. "Who's going first?"

Miriam jumped up quickly. Patrick laughed at her and followed her. The woman, I never learned her name, strapped them in, took off, and wheeled them out.

"We're going next." Jake told Macy and James, motioning to me and him. I froze instantly, almost going speechless. We were going next?

"What?!" I practically yelled at him. He only smirked at me.

"Get it done and over with." He winked. I stared at him with a dumbfounded look on my face. I didn't want to go at all! No one said I had to go! I paid the fee because I thought it was for the boat.

I swallowed hard and told myself that I wasn't going to die; although, it wasn't working very well. What if the cable snapped and Jake and I went down? I guess we were in a parachute... What if my life jacket malfunctioned and I didn't notice it in time? I'd drown!

"You'll be okay." Jake whispered into my ear, making my thoughts disappear quickly. I swallowed again and watched as Miriam and Patrick were dipped into the water. I was closer to getting into that stupid harness. That stupid harness I didn't want to be in. They came out and were pulled onto the boat. Miriam rushed past us to the seats behind us.

"Nessa," she said, "you may hate heights, but you'll love that."

"Thanks..." I replied reluctantly. Sure. Wasn't that what everyone said? I'm pretty sure I was going to hate this with a pa--

"Who's next?" The woman asked.

Jake pushed me to my feet, leaving my flip-flops behind. I didn't have room to go around him to make it back to my seat. Hew as making me do this, which really upset me. I really hated heights. I slowly made my way over to the "seating" gear connected to the parachute. Lean forward. I kept thinking. That's what the woman said...right?

Jake pushed me gently to them and they helped me get strapped in. I held tightly onto the straps of the harness while Jake got strapped in next, even though we weren't moving yet. They started wheeling us out as the boat took off. Out of fear, I grabbed Jake's hand, which I didn't realize 'til the fear started to go away. Being this high up was still really scary, though. I don't know how often I'd go parasailing, but right now, it wasn't that bad.

I took a look at Jake, who looked like he was having the time of his life. I smiled and, as we got higher, I let out a giant cheer. I looked down at Miriam who was smiling up at me. I grinned back and gave her a thumbs up. I hoped she wouldn't say "I told you so" once I got back on the boat.

I looked at Jake again, except this time, he was looking at me, which slightly surprised me. I wasn't really expecting to see him looking at me. He pointed and I saw the city we came through to get to the beach. All the houses seemed like little blocks I used to play with when I was a kid. Soon, they started to disappear behind the trees. We were being brought down and dropping into the water. Once we hit the water, Jake squeezed my hand. My fire red hair stuck to my face as we were brought back onto the boat. They unstrapped us and let us walk back to our seats. I silently padded my way back, dripping, trying to keep my excitement contained.

"Have fun?" Jake asked as we unbuckled our life jackets and handed them back to the guy while Macy and James were strapped in.

"Surprisingly," I said, giddy, "yes. I hate heights, but that was the best thing I have ever done or saw."

He smiled at me, his teeth showing this time. It kind of reminded me of a proud smile your parents gave you when you graduated pre-school.

"Good."

I smiled back and watched Jake watch Macy and James. He was nice and cute, especially with the sun hitting him the way it was. Maybe I would turn the flirt on for the rest of the week and hope for the best to come from it. God...just thinking about that made me feel like a school girl.

We returned from parasailing and decided to have another day on the beach. Although you're sitting the entire time while parasailing, you still get really tired. Jake and I decided against going surfing. Being tired from parasailing, we weren't much in the mood for moving more than necessary. Heck, I didn't really want to move at all.

"So," he began as we sat on the beach chairs, "do you have any siblings?"

"Two sisters and three brothers." I replied simply. It was a few moment before he said anything. I didn't blame him. Not many people had THAT many siblings. It was a real Brady Bunch family, but I loved my family.

"Wow." He stated. I shrugged. It wasn't that big of a deal to me. I didn't mind having a large family. More of a responsibility, but that didn't matter. Responsibility was something I could deal with.

"What about you?"

"I'm a single child. Who are your siblings?"

Why was Jake so interested in me? I wasn't that much of an interesting person. Large families weren't that interesting, my past definitely wasn't something that was interesting. Why did he want to know me so much?

"Taylor is older than me, Anna is younger than me. Jonathan is older, Clint is the same age as me, and Shawn is younger." Okay, so he didn't ask the ages, but it was bound to be one of his questions.

"I see. Doesn't your brother box?" That was a random question.

"Jonathan? Uh, yeah. I box with him sometimes." It was actually pretty fun. You got to hit someone for no reason. And it was a good way to get rid of anger.

"Cool. Do you play any sports, besides box with your brother?"

The nice warm sun was starting to beat on my olive toned skin, making it warm, but not too hot. IT was only spring right now, obviously.

"Yeah." I said. "I'm in volleyball, basketball, and track."

"You get your way around sports, huh?" He said, chuckling. My face flushed slightly at his comment. I was active...yes.

"What about you?" I asked, chuckling as well, but nervously.

"Football and basketball."

"Fun, fun." I said, nodding. He didn't do as much as me, but those were both very active sports.

"Listen, I know it's early in the week, but when we get back from spring break, do you want to go and hang out more?"

"Jake Chekov," said while turning onto my side on the chair and using my elbow as leverage. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yes and no." He smirked. Hard to get, huh? I playfully pushed him over and he laughed. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. I'd love to."

It started getting dark and everyone else had gone back to their cabins. Jake and I went back and changed our clothes, but we decided to have a little bonfire of our own. As we sat there in silence for awhile, we soon heard yelling. It sounded urgent and harsh.

"Macy!" I heard James yell sternly. "Don't screw this up now. We've got all week and if you screw it up, Miriam isn't going to be the only one underneath the earth."

"I'm sorry, sir!" She shrieked. Sir? What was that about? I looked over at Jake, worried. Miriam was my best friend and if something happened to her, I would be devastated. She was there for me when my mother died and her and I were best friends since we were babies. Our families were really close.

"I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I swe--"

We heard a loud skin slap sound and yelp. I jumped at the sound. Jake's hand was on my knee and squeezing it gently. He was trying to reassure me...it wasn't really working.

"Don't stray from the plan."

"Y-yes, sir."

The crunching of leaves and sand faded. I wondered if they thought they were safe talking about it where they were, rather than in their cabin. Maybe they were setting things up for whatever was going to happen. I really didn't want to find out.

"We have to call the police, or tell Miriam, or something!" I whisper yelled at Jake, shaking fervently.

"When we go into town tomorrow, we'll pull MIriam away and warn her and call the police." Jake said, trying to comfort me, using both of his hands to hold my right one. "For now, let's just go to the cabin and act like we didn't know anything." He let go of my hand and started putting out the fire.

"Why would he want to kill her?! What has she done to him?!"

Jake helped me to my feet and guided me back to the cabin. I was so angry and scared. Why would James want to kill Miriam? What did she do to him?

I changed my clothes and did everything in a shaking daze, unsure of what events were going to happen at the end of the week. I didn't want to find out. I really hoped we would be able to prevent this from happening.

"Vanessa," Jake said as my shaky hand pulled back the sheets of the bed. I stopped and looked at him, the sheet shaking in my grasp.

"It will all be okay. I promise."

I looked at his eyes, promise filling them to the brim. I nodded, not looking away and he shut off the light. I climbed into bed and turned on my side, facing away from him.

"Goodnight, Vanessa." He said. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes.

"Night, Jake."