Chapter 3

“Those two need to come back! It’s been like a half hour and they’re still not here.” I tried not to whine, it’s just I wanted to hang with all three of them. Stacy nodded and helped me up. The waves were crashing loudly, but it was peaceful. 

“Let’s go find them.” He said taking my hand. We walked down the shore and kept looking for them, but we didn’t find them. It seemed they had almost disappeared but that couldn’t be the case. 

“Austin! Kylie! Where are you guys?” Stacy called out. No answer. “Where the hell are they? This is really starting to make me upset.” 

“Boo!” I felt someone pick me up and I screamed. “Hey! Calm down, it’s just us!” Austin said. Once he put me down I held tightly onto Stacy. 

“Where the heck have you two been? We’ve been worried.” Stacy said. My heart was still beating fast and I tried to calm myself down. 

“We just went for a little walk down the shore. Apparently, there’s gonna be storm coming tomorrow.” Kylie said. Me and Stacy nodded and looked at the both of them. 

“Does anyone know what time it is?” I asked. Stacy looked at his watch and told me it was 3:30. I nodded and sighed. Martina would be dropping Jamie off at home around 5 and then Cayden would be home at around 6. I didn’t want to leave Jamie alone for a whole hour. 

“Do you have to leave already?” Austin asked. I looked at him and the other and shook my head no. 

“Not yet, I will at 5:30. I don’t wanna leave my sister home alone for too long.” I said. They nodded. Something felt different about Kylie, I sensed that she was different. 

“You can leave now if you want, I mean I don’t want you to leave your sister home alone for too long. My brother hates when I do that.” 

“No, it’s okay. She’s not back yet. I can still hang out...” I hastily answered. She made a look and nodded. She took Austin’s arm and they ran ahead. 

“Come on! Race us!” Austin said. I looked at Stacy who laughed and took my arm. 

“Willing to be my race partner?” he asked. I chuckled and nodded. We ran faster than Kylie and Austin and we beat them to wherever. We dropped on the sand and were heaving. “Wow.... you got some fast legs there girl!” he said. I laughed. 

“I used to run track, I stopped last year because my mom and step dad began fighting.” He nodded. 

“Dang! You two are like light! How can you run so fast?” Austin asked. 

“I used to run track a lot. I stopped just last year.” I answered. 

“Whoa! That’s awesome! Right Kylie?” he asked. She nodded and smiled. 

An hour passed and it was currently around 4:30. I was watching the clouds and thinking.  I closed my eyes for a second and began to drift. All of a sudden I felt someone pour water on me and I opened them. Austin and Stacy had done that. 

“Ahhh! What the heck guys?” I asked with a smile. 

“Don’t fall asleep!” Austin said. I chuckled. 

“I wasn’t. I was thinking that’s all.” I stood up and walked over to them chasing them into the water. I splashed both of them and then they splashed me back. “Where’d Kylie go?” I asked. 

“She had to go. She didn’t want to leave apparently. Her brother got sick and she had to take care of him. You have us though!” Austin said laughing and splashing me again. 

“Ahhh! No! You get splashed!” I splashed the both of them and laughed. It turned into a whole splash fest and we were all drenched. Stacy picked me up and threw me in the water. I resurfaced and laughed. 

“You’re gonna pay for that!” I swam over to him and got on his back and splashed him. Austin watched and laughed too. I got off of Stacy’s back and dove under the water. I came back up only to be picked up by Austin this time. “Ahhh! Hahaha!” I squirmed as he threw me into the water and laughed. I resurfaced and jumped on his back. When I held onto him I could feel myself hugging him. It felt different than when I did it to Stacy. Stacy swam over and we looked at each other.

“Time check?” Austin asked. 

“5:10.” He said. 

“Oh I guess I should be heading back to my brothers. I don’t want to leave ah! I’m having so much fun!” I said. 

“Don’t worry. We can hang out tomorrow. Kylie said we could use her house to hang. Her parents have a really nice house.” Austin said. I nodded. 

“Alright, cool!” we swam back to shore and I gave them each hugs. “I’ll see you guys later.” I said walking away. 

“Bye Lany!” they both called. I headed back to Cayden’s house. When I arrived Martina was just leaving. 

“Lany! Oh thank goodness! There you are! Jamie hasn’t been a very well behaved girl today. She didn’t listen to me.” 

“Hmm, really? That doesn’t sound like her. What did she not listen to?” I asked. 

“I told her not to play with my phone and she kept playing. I asked her not to go around and act out of control but she did that.” I nodded. 

“I’m sorry, I’ll take care of it. Don’t you worry! I’ll see you later Martina!” I said. 

“Thank you so much Lany! I just didn’t want that to go unsaid because if it happens again I’m not sure what I’d do. Thanks again!” She waved and I walked into the house.

“Jamie!” I said loudly. She stood at the top of the three stairs that there were. “What is this I hear about you not behaving with Cayden’s friend? Hmm?” 

“Nothing!” she stuck her tongue out at me. 

“Jamie! Do not do that to me!” I said. 

“You’re not my mother! You can’t tell me what to do!” she said turning and walking back to her room. I followed her. 

“I am the closest thing you have to mother now young lady! You know I do NOT like yelling at you, but the fact that you didn’t listen to someone who wanted to spend the day with you is unacceptable! Do you understand?” she stuck her tongue out at me. “Jamie, what has gotten into you? Why are you acting like this?” 

“I MISS MOM! I HATE THAT I AM STUCK WITH YOU AND YOUR BROTHER!!!” she yelled and began to cry. My anger subsided and I walked over and sat next to her. 

“Jamie, why didn’t you just tell me?” I asked. 

“YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME!” she yelled again. I sighed and looked at her. I rubbed her back and hugged her. 

“I always listen to you Jamie, always. I miss mom too. Mom would want you to be a strong girl right now, can you do that for her as she’s looking down on you smiling?” Jamie looked at me with tears in her eyes and I hugged her tightly and stroked her cheek. 

“Okay, I’ll try.” She sniffled and I kissed her cheek. “Is daddy ever going to get put in that bad place?” she asked. I sighed. 

“I hope so Jamie, I sure hope so.” We waited for Cayden to get home and when he did we all went out for dinner to some small little restaurant. 

“I heard around town you are friends with Stacy, Austin, and Kylie.” Cayden said. I nodded as I took a drink of my soda. “I gotta worn you sweetheart-” he began but I cut him off. 

“Yeah, I know. Kylie is like a loner from girls at school and almost all the guys wanna do her and now she’s my friend. What’s wrong with being her friend?” I asked. 

“I just don’t wanna see you get hurt hun. I love you too much.” I had a confused look on my face. I didn’t understand what he meant. 

“Why would I get hurt?” I asked. He looked at me and then at Jamie. I could tell he was debating on telling me or not, he chose the latter. “Cayden? Why won’t you tell me?” 

“Because I just don’t want to. I am such an idiot for bringing it up.” He slapped his forehead and I sighed and groaned in frustration. He was confusing me. I reanalyzed everything and I couldn’t see why he wanted me to be careful and not get hurt. It was really making my head spin and I didn’t know what to do.