Looking At Us

66. hadley

I wasn’t used to water. Back home, there was a river that nobody swam in. There was an outdoor pool that was only used in the summer. There were two showers in my old house that were usually occupied by spiders. 

     New Denver had a freaking lake. 

     Oddly enough, I liked it. Eighteen days ago, my mother had taken my brothers and I to this rainy/sunny place four hours from home, and in those eighteen days, I’d consumed most of my time at a hidden sliver of beach beside the house. It wasn’t entirely sunny, and sometimes the tide would come up and snatch at my toes, but I sat there for hours, just thinking and remembering, and it was comforting. 

     I started school again, giving fake smiles to drama queens but a real smile to a girl named Chelsea, who was adventurous and gentle, and who welcomed me like an old friend. A guy named Brent had taken me to the movies, and even though he looked a lot like Cody, I was taking a slight interest in him. I was moving on. 

     On the nineteenth day, I sat on my beach, texting Sasha about Brent and Chelsea and the weather. The wind was cold on my bare legs. My hair thrashed around my face. 

     I heard a voice say, ‘’Hi. You’re Hadley, right?’’

     A boy approached me. He wore jeans over his long legs, a green T-shirt, and he had wavy yellow hair and pale blue eyes. He didn’t have shoes on.

     ‘‘Yes,’’ I said. ‘‘Who are you?’’

     He gave me a dangerous smirk. ‘‘I’m glad you asked. I’m Jake.’’