Chapter six

During the car ride home from the hospital, Kira tried to drone out the lecture

her parents were offering from the front seat. Surfing is dangerous, blah blah

blah. She put her hand to her scalp and felt the five stitches that had been sewn

there to hold her skin together. Truthfully, she was just relieved it had been the

back of her head—losing a little hair was nothing compared to having a scar on

her face.

Beside her, Kira's little sister was starting to nod off. She pulled Chloe's

head over so it rested on her lap and ran her hand through her sister’s silky

brown hair, looking outside at the moss-covered trees passing by.

Mildly distracted, she did her best to respond to her mother at the

necessary moments, so she would think Kira was listening. But as the lecture

droned on, Kira reached her hand up to the back of her head a second time and

finally realized how close she had come to drowning—a fact she would never

tell her parents. She didn’t even remember getting out from under the water. All

she could remember were the waves pounding her every time she tried to surface

and the searing pain of her board hitting her on the head. Kira couldn’t blame

surfing. She could only blame her own stupidity. She’d known the waves were

too big, but she was too stubborn to stop when she had a point to prove.

Hopefully Tristan had been trying to prove a point too—maybe he didn't hate her

like she knew his friends did.

When she got home, Kira ran to her room and called Emma. She needed to

discuss things with a girl. For most of her life, Kira had been one of those girls

that was one of the guys. Now, she needed a girl who was her opposite to help

her dissect the situation. After half an hour, headlights pierced through the

window and Kira went downstairs to get the door.

"Oh my god," was the first thing Emma said. "We have so much to

discuss. Let’s grab some comfort food. Do you have potato chips? I can’t resist."

Kira grabbed some cookies and chips from the kitchen, and led Emma

outside to the back porch. She sat on the hammock while Emma curled up on the

wicker chair.

"You know, Kira, it’s a little spooky out here. You live kind of far into the

woods." Emma hugged her legs a little tighter and searched the surrounding

woods for anything terrifying.

"Trust me, I know, but you get used to it." Kira let Emma get the search

out of her system, and lay down, peering past the edge of the porch roof to

search for stars.

"So who first? Luke or Tristan? Don’t tell me you called me over here just

to gaze mysteriously at the sky."

Kira sighed. "I know." She chewed her lip for a moment, thinking. "You

choose. I’m just as confused by both of them."

"Well then, I’ve been dying to tell you what a freaking god Tristan looked

like when he carried you out of the water. You, of course, were dangling there

like a dead fish, but let me tell you." Emma shook her head as if there were no

words and fanned herself.

"Wait, he carried me out?" Kira grabbed a chocolate chip cookie. Reliving

a near death experience required chocolate, especially when someone just said

you looked like a dead fish in the arms of a god. Great description.

"Yes, dummy, how else do you think you ended up on the sand?"

"I don’t know…"

"Well, anyway, let me paint you the picture, because it was like a scene

from a movie, or more likely from Baywatch, but still unreal. The guys and I are

sitting on the towels, chatting and eating, when suddenly Luke looks up and is

like ‘Where’s Kira’ and the guys start to freak out because they don’t see you

anywhere. Then, I look out all the way down toward the pier and tell them you

moved over there to surf. Dave and Luke just shake their heads at each other,

like they know you can’t handle it, and the four of us watch you try to catch that

wave. For a second Dave is like ‘she’s gonna do it’ in that awed voice that is so

cute. Anyway, instead, we see you wipe out huge, and we all start laughing cause

you just looked ridiculous, but then you don’t surface. We are all staring, and

after two minutes, we don’t see you, and Luke goes running down the beach.

"Then, out of nowhere, Tristan emerges from a wave holding you in his

arms. His body is dripping with water, making the sun bounce off of him, and his

arm muscles are bulging. I mean, I practically heard every girl on the beach sigh

with jealousy and have a momentary heart attack because of how hot he is.

Anyway, he runs from the water, sets you down really gently, and then starts

slapping you in the face. I didn’t get it, but we all saw you wake up while we

were running over and were so happy, until we saw Luke punch Tristan in the

face."

At the mention, Kira groaned.

"Why did he do that?" she asked while grabbing another cookie. A neardeath experience followed by your guy friend punching your savior and potential

crush in the face seriously required chocolate.

"Because you, my friend, have been dropped right in the middle of a love

triangle."

"No!" Kira put her head in her hands. Screw chocolate. She needed vodka.

"Luke doesn’t like me like that, we’re friends, okay? Right? And Tristan, well, I

don’t even know him."

"Listen to me," Emma said and put her hand on Kira’s shoulder. Kira sat

up, looking her friend in the face. "No guy punches another guy over nothing

and no guy is as attentive as Tristan is to you over nothing. Something is going

on."

Something is definitely going on, Kira thought. But it wasn't so simple as a

love triangle—something else was at play. That much she knew.

Emma continued, unaware of the thoughts churning in Kira's mind. "I

know you don’t want to hear it, but I’ve never seen Luke watch someone like he

watches you, like he’s always looking to protect you. Maybe you should talk to

remember he paused and looked right out the window toward the misfits. They

all stood outside and stared back at him with seriously evil smiles. It was like a

challenge or something. None of us knew what caused it, but that first day we

met Luke he was nothing like he is now. He was angry the whole day and barely

spoke to any of us. In fact, the next day we were all questioning if we wanted to

let him in the group, but he came back on his second day as the charming person

we know and love. Still though, he changes around them. Oh, and there was

Bethany."

Emma paused to grab another chip. She chewed on it slowly, eyes losing

focus on the forest around them, and Kira wanted to wring her friend’s neck in

anticipation. This was it—this could be the explanation she had been looking for.

"Bethany?" Kira prompted.

"I’m trying to remember all the details. Bethany was the first girl Luke

dated, here at least. They met his second week of school, and he was head over

heels for her. After a month, we all knew he was in love, but none of us was as

sure about her feelings. She was the kind of girl who tricks a guy into falling for

her, but keeps a wandering eye." Emma sneered to show her disgust. "The boys

all loved her, but I had a feeling something was off. Anyway, there was this

party, and Bethany told Luke she was doing homework and couldn’t come out.

So, we all went without her, but it was totally lame and we heard people were

partying at the beach. We drove the extra fifteen minutes, and when we walked

onto the beach the first thing we saw were Tristan and Bethany making out in the

dunes. Luke ran over and punched Tristan in the face. By the time we got there,

blood was all over Tristan’s face and Luke’s hand, and we had to pull him away.

It was messy."

Emma shook her head, and Kira flashed back to Luke’s punch on the

beach, somewhat surprised Tristan hadn’t started gushing blood then too.

"Yeah, wow, I didn’t expect that." Kira chewed on her lip. "So I'll be the

worst person ever if I try to date Tristan knowing Luke hates him and maybe

likes me.

Eh, fifty-fifty on that, but you have to do what you want." Emma looked

at Kira with wide eyes, showing her that she meant those words.

Kira curled back up in the hammock and listened to the breeze ruffle

through the trees. That was the clue she had been waiting for, but she wasn’t so

happy now that she had it. Even if Luke and Tristan had hated each other from

the start, Bethany had been the catalyst, and maybe Kira's presence had dredged

up old wounds. She needed to talk to Luke about this.

"Thanks for coming over, Emma," Kira told her friend at the door an hour

later. Their conversation had moved past Tristan and Luke and into school

gossip. But it became so late that Kira’s pain meds had worn off, and she knew

she needed to sleep on everything.

Emma smiled. "You know I’m here when you need me."

They hugged and Kira watched her friend leave before shutting the door

and heading upstairs. Instead of lying awake for hours, as she had expected,

sleep came almost instantly—and thankfully dreamlessly, considering her

tumultuous thoughts.

The first thing Kira did the next morning was G****e search for a

Starbucks, and then call Luke to meet her there. In New York, coffee shops had

been her favorite place to meet with friends, and she needed a comfortable spot

to have this conversation with Luke. She loved the smell of coffee brewing and

the artsy laid back feel that most coffee shops had. Everyone was in his or her

own world, typing away at a computer or talking about the previous days’

events, but it was like a secret community.

Kira’s drive over was solemn, but when she arrived at Starbucks and sat

down with a latte, she already felt more relaxed. The indie music of an up-andcoming artist was playing in the background, and she sank into her big leather

seat to wait.

Luke walked in about ten minutes later, and she waved him over. When he

sat down, Kira didn't really know where to start, so she waited for him to say

something.