Undercurrent

Prologue

"Wait for me!" Zach's voice carried on the wind as I clambered down the rocks to the beach. I grinned. I'd been able to beat him down here every time.

"Not my fault you're so slow!" I yelled gleefully, not looking behind me to see where he was. He'd find his way down. He always did.

When I reached the bottom, I settled on my rock. I'd decided it was my rock the first time I'd played down here as a toddler. I guess it's a bit odd to claim a rock as your own but when you've spent a lot of time in one place, it starts to feel like it belongs to you. And I'd spent a lot of time here.

I stretched back, craning my neck to try and spot Zach on his way down. Eventually, I spotted him, cautiously moving from one rock to the next. I felt a bit mean for rushing off without him but I squashed it down. I always did.

"Finally!" I said, rolling my eyes and moving across so that he could perch next to me. It might have been my rock but I'd always shared it with Zach. I've always shared everything with Zach.

"One day, I'm going to beat you down here, y'know?" he said, catching his breath.

"Yeah right." I smirked at him. "No chance."

We sat, quietly, looking out at the waves lapping the stony shore. The tide was coming in, but we had plenty of time before it got too close.

"C'mon," he said, taking my hand and pulling me towards the water. He handed me a pile of small stones. "Let's do something I'm good at now."

I watched as Zach launched a pebble across the water. It bounced three, four, five times before disappearing beneath an incoming wave. My turn. I chose my weapon wisely, a smooth, flat pebble, just like he'd taught me years ago. I pulled back my wrist and let it go, trying to remember how he'd shown me. Two bounces. Not bad.

We carried on for a little while, until our trainers started to get wet, before returning to the rocks to watch the water come in. Zach put his head on my shoulder, staring out at the waves.

"One more week of freedom, Nina," he said.

I nodded, not that he could see me. Summer had gone quickly. So quickly. Our last week at junior school felt like it was barely a week ago.

"I'm scared," he carried on, quieter this time.

"Yeah?" I turned and looked at him.

"Yeah."

We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the water getting slowly closer.

"Nina?" He broke the silence after a while. "Do you think we'll still be best friends when we finish high school?"

"Of course!" I was adamant. "We're always going to be best friends, you know that."

He tried to look convinced but I could still see the nerves in his eyes.

"Come on," I said, jumping from the rock. "If we've only got a week left, we might as well enjoy it." I looked up at him, still sat there. "Come on. Race you!"

Before he could climb down, I started off across the stones, my feet wobbling as I ran along the unsteady ground. I sped up as the pebbles became sand and kept going as I heard him catching me up.

"Nice try!" he called, laughing as he passed me and kept running. I might have been faster at climbing but he definitely had the edge on flat ground. When I finally reached him, out of breath and nursing a stitch, he was leaning against the wall, next to one of the little caves that lined the rock face. I peered behind him and saw the water still pooling at the bottom from the last incoming tide.

"I let you win," I said, trying not to let him see how exhausted I was. He rolled his eyes; he knew I wouldn't easily admit to losing at anything.

"Wanna play hide and seek?" he grinned.

"We're not babies," I said, shortly.

His smile faltered. "I know, I just thought that it might be fun." He moved from one foot to the other, his hands splayed nervously. "You know, since we've got to grow up next week, we should enjoy being kids for a bit longer." His eyes looked at me, almost pleadingly, a sadness in them that I'd not seen there before.

I'd never understood why he wanted to stay as a kid. I was desperate to grow up, for people to take me seriously. Not Zach. He'd always taken me seriously, but everyone else. I didn't want to be just a kid anymore. Zach did though. He loved being silly and playing, like he was desperate to hold onto the time he had left in his childhood.

"Go on then," I gave in, seeing how much it meant to him.

Zach grinned. "I'm hiding first. Count to ten – no cheating!"

I turned and looked towards the rocks. I started counting, exaggerated and slowly. "One... two... three..." Behind me, I heard the crunch of stones as he went back the way we'd just run. At least I had a good idea of where to start looking. "...ten. Coming, ready or not!"

I turned and started along the sand, reaching the stony part of the beach fairly quickly. I knew he'd gone this way. I'd heard him. I looked around for anywhere he might be hiding. I climbed onto the concrete platform above the waste pipe going out into the water to try and get a good look at where he could be.

I couldn't see him anywhere. No sign of him at all. It surprised me; I'd thought I'd be able to instantly work out where he was. I jumped down from the platform, planning to carry on along the stones but I landed in a heap, tangled with Zach's legs.

"Zach!" I shouted, embarrassed to have fallen. "You're meant to be hiding."

"I am hiding," he said.

"But this is a rubbish hiding place. Anyone could have seen you." I was still annoyed, my pride hurt. "I thought since you were so desperate to play this stupid game, you'd at least be half decent at it."

Now Zach looked hurt. I knew he hated it when I was short with him but somehow it never really stopped me.

"Well, it can't have been that bad. You didn't spot me, did you?" he said quietly. It wasn't like Zach to argue with me, so I knew I must have upset him.

"I was looking where normal people would have hidden," I said.

We were quiet for a moment before I spoke again. "Anyway, is it my turn now?"

"I thought you said it was a stupid game." He looked up at me, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"It is, but I can at least show you how to play the stupid game properly." I smiled back. "Go on then, start counting!"

He sat on the concrete and put his head onto his arms, starting to count. I sped as fast as I could along the beach, back towards the sand. I knew exactly where I was going.

Just along the beach, there was an island. At least, we called it an island. It was separated from the main beach by a narrow but quick stream. We'd spent so many summers playing there, splashing in the stream and trying to catch little fish in our sandcastle buckets. I jumped from one bank to the other, grazing my knees as I landed and then hiding behind the large rocks at the top. It wouldn't take long for Zach to find me. Maybe I wasn't very good at finding hiding places either.

I sat and waited. The breeze from the water was getting stronger now and I wrapped my arms around myself to try and beat the chill. Still, I waited. Nothing.

The water was getting closer now and starting to make its way up the bank of the island. Where was Zach? Why hadn't he found me? This really wasn't the time to play a trick on me for being mean about his silly game of hide and seek. The chill in the air, the approaching water and darkening sky made up my mind for me. It was time to go home.