Chapter One: Kai

Summer was upon us. You could tell by the way the sun shone, gold in the sky. The smell of cut grass lingered in the air, and school would be out in a number of weeks.

I was a Sophomore, freshly done with driver's ed, and ready to be on my own a little.

At the end of the year, my best friend Willow and I were sitting at the lunch tables outside. "You know what would be exciting? Like, totally amazing?" she exclaimed, her brown eyes glinting at me. I have this thing with eyes - I can basically tell what's going on. Today, hers were sharp and alert, intense. I could tell she was really pumped about something.

I just looked at her, waiting for her to continue. She didn't need any encouragement.

"What if," she started, drawing her words out. "What if we stayed a few days out by the lake. Just a few friends, hanging on the beach. Swimming during the day, around the campfire at night. What do you think?"

I had thought at the time, "This is impossible. You think some parents of Juniors are going to let them go off for a week without supervision?"

But, with everything going on for everyone else, the parents really didn't care too much. My mom threw a bit of a tantrum about the "no-supervision" thing, but then my brother, a college Freshman, offered to supervise us. She said yes.

Mom had been spacey lately. My dad had just moved to LA, which she absolutely hated. It's not like she didn't have a chance. They split when I was 12. Now that he was gone, it seemed she wanted him even more.

She was so involved with this all, that she didn't really notice the prospect of the trip. I was planning for weeks, making reservations, collecting money from people. "I love you, Kai. I mean, I really am glad you're planning this," Willow remarked one day. The trip was scheduled for the next week.

"How would it be," Willow started. "If I invited Jimmy Carrol?"

I was silent. I stopped writing and glared at her.

"What are you trying to do, Willow?" Jimmy had been my first boyfriend. We started dating in Freshman year, and broke up at the midpoint of Sophomore year. I hadn't seen him since. I didn't know why; he had dumped me, not the other way around.

"I don''t know," she said. "He's my friend, is all."

I glared at her.

"Uh huh. Sure." I kept my gaze steady. "Go ahead."




More later.