Three

“Ahhh. My face feels like s**t”

I didn’t know that there was an aftershock after being hit in the face by a ball. The pain is excruciating. And I thought a good night sleep will do the trick, but it only made it worst. Better get some ice onto it.

I went downstairs to get some ice, seems that everybody was already asleep. I checked the time and it was actually 3 in the morning. I placed the ice in my right cheek, and just went to the sliding door. I wasn’t planning on getting out at this hour, I just want to see the outside from inside the house. Wow. It was a full moon, and it’s so beautiful, back at home I couldn’t appreciate stuff like this. I don’t know why, but here I’m so intact with everything, and it feels good. I stare at the moon for a few more minutes, and decided that I should get back to my room and rest.

It’s already morning, I can feel the sun on my face, but I don’t move an inch. I just lay in my bed with my eyes close. All I can hear is the ocean, and it’s so amazing. I want to stay like this forever. I feel nothing, it’s just so calm.

“Hey, Sam! You still snoring? It’s already 10am, I’ll just leave your breakfast on the table.” Shouted by Cam from downstairs.

“Just leave it there, I’ll be down in a minute.”

Yep, back to reality. I’m not really that hungry, maybe I should just get some toast and head to the beach. I don’t know why, I just want to go out and sit by the beach.

“Hey, I made you a big breakfast, not hungry?” Cam asked

“Not really, this toast will be just fine. Oh, and I go to the beach”

“Don’t want to come with us?”

“Where you going?”

“Well, I thought about grilling this afternoon and having a bonfire later in the evening, so you’re Dad said that he would be the who’s grilling. And Cliff will be the one who’s going to gather some wood”

“Uhmm,, you can do that on your own right? I just want to go to the beach.”

“Alright, just be back before five in the afternoon, k?”

“Yep.”

I finish my toast, and heard them left. I return to my room and remove my pajamas and wore some shorts. I actually feel like I want to dip myself in the water today, that’s a surprise and who cares right? I grabbed my towel in the bathroom, and just rushed to the beach. Feels like a wonderful day. I left my towel in the sand and just walked slowly towards the ocean. The heat of the sun feels so good, perfect for the cold water. It feels so nice, hot day in the cool ocean water.

I stood there in the ocean with my eyes closed, just absorbing all of it. The beauty of it all. And I felt something strange, I feel like someone’s watching me. When I turn to my right, I saw a guy staring at me. He looks so familiar. I got back to the shore and I saw him up close. I was right, his brown wavy hair and blue eyes, really was familiar. He’s the guy who knocked me out with his volleyball. He’s walking towards me. What should I do? Should I run away? I do want to run away, but I can’t move. I want to go back to the house, but I can’t. I’m just standing there, staring at him while he walks toward me.

“Hey, have I met you before?”

“Apparently yes, you knocked me out with your ball yesterday”

“Oh right, I just want to apologize again, I mean it was an accident”

“It’s fine”

“My name’s Nick, short for Nicholas. I think I already introduced myself to you yesterday”

“Yeah, but I really didn’t catch it. I’m Sam, short for Samantha. Uhmm.. See you around”

So, I grab my towel and decided to go back to the house, then he rushed towards me.

“Hey, let me make it up to you”

“Does it involve me throwing a ball at your face? Because that seems fair enough”

“Funny, well, me and my friends are about to go island hopping and I wanted to ask if you’d like to come. It’ll be fun”

“Not really sure if I want to crash you’re little outing”

“No, definitely not. It’s fine. The more the merrier. Do you have anything better to do?

“Not really”

“And is this your first time here?”

“Yes actually”

“Now you really need to come with us and enjoy Boracay!”

“Not really sure if it’s a good idea”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun swear. And I promise to get you back before sundown”

“Well, that’s a good idea”

“So you’re in? Let’s go”

I can’t believe that I just agreed on island hopping with a complete stranger, but he seems like a cool guy. And it looks like that he’s not a serial killer, just a guy who’s showing me how to have fun here in Boracay.

We’re walking toward the boat and his friends. He waved at them and they waved back. When we got to the boat, he walked me to his friends and introduced me to all of them. I met Francis, Johnny, Emily, Kristine, Walter, Bobby, and Edward. Emily is actually the younger sister of Johnny, and Kristine is the girlfriend of Edward. And the boys are all his classmates. After that, we took a seat and the adventure began.

This is my first time to ride in a boat and go island hopping, and when Nick found out, he got so excited for me. So I became excited as well. The excitement was definitely worth it. The open sea was amazing, the water was so blue and air was really refreshing.

“So, where you from Samantha? Because a have a strong feeling that you’re not from around here” Nick asked.

“Well, you’re correct. I’m just here on vacation. My aunt has a house near the beach, that’s why I’m always there. And I’m from Seattle”

“Nice, a fellow American”

“How bout you? Do you live here?”

“No. I’m also here on vacation. I’m currently residing on Los Angeles. Incoming freshmen at The University of California, Los Angeles”

“Oh nice, so you asked me a while ago if this is my first time here right? How bout you? You’ve been here before?”

“Actually yes, it’s like my third time to spend my summer here. The place is just amazing, I never get sick of going back to this place”

And when I turned around to see where we are I realized what he truly meant. I saw the islands and it was really amazing. This is the first time in my life to ever witness something this amazing. Then Nick grabbed me by the arm and told me that he was going to show me something. When I look at the water, there were dolphins below us. Actual dolphins. There’s so many of them. When we got near to this one island, the boat stopped.

“Hey, what’s happening?” I asked to Nick.

“Time for a dip” Johnny shouted right before he jumped to the water.

“Are you really serious about this?!” I asked to Nick again.

“Yeah, don’t worry. It’ll be fun”

“We’re too far from the shore, what if there are like sharks here? Or any man eating creature?”

“It’ll be fine Samantha, I swear it”

After that, Nick jumped to the water as well. What should I do? Should I jump too? F**k. Let’s do this thing. I jumped into the water, and when I was in the water, I saw Nick waving his hands at me. I swam to him, and he just grabbed my hand. When I look to what his looking, I was really amazed. I saw the sea floor with its beautiful coral reef. I saw different kinds of fish, that I would try to catch, but it seems their dominant in their territory. And when I swam up to breath, I was actually speechless. Nick swam up as well, and he’s in front of me.

“So, what’d you think?” Nick asked.

“What do I think? THAT WAS F*****G AWESOME!!”

“Told you you’ll love it” he said with a smile on his face.