The one thing wrong with waking up at seven in the morning for classes was the internal clock set from the start of those classes that refused to die. In essence, it wasn’t necessarily a BAD thing to wake up early in the morning, as a person could catch more of the day that way.

But not at ten in the morning...and NOT on vacation!!

She groaned and roughly tossed the pillow over her head to block the light.

That lasted all about two minutes until she started breathing in used air and was forced to move the pillow away before she suffocated.

Heaving a huge sigh, she slowly rolled to her back and blankly stared at the ceiling. Her ears perked up to the few birds chirping outside the window nearby and found it at least pleasant to wake up to.

SO much better than her alarm anyway...with that incessant BEEP, BEEP, BEEP-

A small groan sounded as a hand slapped her forehead. She growled. “I’ve been hearing that so much I can hear it in my HEAD!”

After a second, she smiled despite herself and lazily slapped her cheeks to wake up a little more. After that, she sat up and gave a stretch and yawn.

Her eyes went to the clock, finding it twenty to ten and decided that was late enough to sleep in. As much as she’d like to sleep in more, she was actually awake.

But that was a rather nice thing, sleeping in until one woke up of their own violation. It put her in twice the better mood than if she had to hop out of bed, sometimes straight out of REM, and turn that beeping off.

Still stretching her arms, she ambled to the door and opened it with another lazy yawn.

She couldn’t really complain about waking earlier than she wanted really...she had four days of waking on her own. That was paradise right there. Then add on that she slept in her old bedroom, now turned into a guest room specifically for these times, and she had two more days to spend with her mother.

A smile peeked through as she claimed the bathroom first and locked her mother out.

By the time she was awake and ready to get the day going properly, she opened the bathroom door and the smell of cooking pancakes hit her full force.

It took all of ten seconds for her stomach to start growling.

With a deep inhale, a dreamy smile spreading her lips, she hung up the towel from over her head to dry and shut the light off.

“Morning dear. I hope you left some water in those pipes for ME.”

Rounding the corner found her mother still in her pajamas with a spatula scooping up the latest batch of their breakfast.

She eyed the spread in appreciation and her hands itched to take one off the stack and devour it. Rarely did she manage to eat this good unless she was here.

She was spoiled by her mother’s cooking and that was fact.

Suddenly, she found the spatula in her hand and dumbly stared at the elder. “Be a dear and finish this batter up. I made a double batch because I know you’ll eat at least five and I’ll have about that too. The rest we can tear up and throw out back for the birds.” She was given a small pat on the shoulder as her mother breezed past to get ready as well.

Her nose wrinkled. The birds INDEED! There wasn’t THAT much batter left, and even if there was, no WAY were those lucky little feathered friends getting a CRUMB. She would make sure of that!

A hand started reaching for the stack...

“And keep your hands out of the batter and the pancakes until I eat with you!”

Rats.

With a pouting look, her hands pulled away and sullenly went to do her mother’s bidding.

In the time her mother took, she had the rest of the pancakes fixed and set the table. She also found a small plate of scrambled eggs kept warm in the microwave and set that out as well.

By the time she had places, food, and condiments arranged, it could’ve rivaled the hotel’s looks when she set up. Not much, but not bad.

Hands went to her hips in amusement, the spatula still in a hand. Well, not quite, but it still looked rather classy.

After a nod in satisfaction, she went to put the dirty dishes to soak and hopefully sneak a pancake before her mother arrived to eat with. Not that she wouldn’t dig in ANYWAY, but her stomach was demanding food and it wanted it NOW.

Ironically enough, just as she sat down, her mother arrived.

“Thank you for setting everything up dear. You go ahead and dig in. I know you’re hungry.”

She gave a nod of thanks and appreciation to the compliment and immediately snatched two pancakes and a large helping of eggs.

These were the days she wished she was still at home.

“So what do you want to do today dear?”

She spared a glance off the plate, contemplating that. What else COULD she do today? Honestly, she spent almost all her time with her mother, doing enough sight-seeing and making sure to bring Sammy back something as requested. Like always.

Two days left...shouldn’t she do something by herself in this city? Not that she didn’t love spending time with the only real person she could call family, but-

‘Four whole days.’ She mused. ‘I SHOULD do something by myself. I’m sure mom wouldn’t mind being lazy, though she’ll probably just clean the house in the time she neglected it.’

A small smile appeared. She gained a little bit of her mother’s cleaning skills and kept the house she shared with Sammy picked up. She felt she at least helped out a little more that way. But her mother was a little more classified as a neat freak.

It was just nice that the place was generally kept up. She would hate for her mother to have to exert herself anymore than she already did.

The last thing she wanted to do was worry about that.

“I think...I think that today...maybe I’ll take my bike on the nature trail.” A small smile appeared. “I haven’t done that in a year at least...it’d be nice to go again and check the city out my way.”

There was a single nod and the two went back to eating again. She wondered if she’d hurt her mother’s feelings, but didn’t see any ill looks on the elder face.

She was glad for that. She didn’t want to ruin the strong bond she had solely because she wanted to do something by herself for once.

She felt like giving herself a small knock on the head for that stupid thought. Her mother was the one to help teach her independence in the first place!

She gave a mental shake and stood to take her dirty dishes to the sink. Just before she was out of reach, a hand snuck out and stuck a pancake in her mouth.

‘One for the road.’ She giggled, trying not to laugh.

~*~*~

Despite the summer heat, the day couldn’t be more perfect. There wasn’t a cloud in the deep blue sky and although that didn’t help temperature wise...it sure made the sky even prettier to look at.

She inhaled serenely and stopped under a tree on the wide, concrete path. Her eyes looked around at the foliage and the hills behind it.

Even fifteen miles or so away from the ocean, the city still had a minute smell of salt water.

She had a small like for the smell, even though she hated water. She liked the ocean...it was just a pity she never learned how to swim.

Heaving a small sigh, she pushed off and started on her journey again. Having gone a few miles, part of that through road with nothing under it, the shade felt extremely nice.

She wouldn’t have a problem with staying all day there, but then she wouldn’t get to where she was going.

And contrary to her first thoughts about this outing, there actually WAS someplace she had in mind to visit.

She inhaled the smell of the nearby ocean again and smiled. She was such a nature lover. It was sad really, how much she liked watching the ocean, but would never participate in it.

She gave a small pout. ‘Being a bookworm did me more harm than good during my summers off of school.’

Indeed... Having holed herself in her room, reading book after book to keep from being bored, she never learned how to swim like other kids in her school. Not through elementary or middle school. By the time high school rolled around, she just gave up on trying to learn.

And sacrificed many a day sweating when she could’ve been down at one of the many local pools cooling off.

Her nose wrinkled and she absently pushed the sunglasses higher on her face. It was so ironic that she lived in a city almost right on the ocean and couldn’t enjoy it. Sure, she sometimes sat where the waves rolled in, but nothing more than that.

Her fear of drowning didn’t permit her to enter water past her knees, for fear of being off-balanced and swept off with the tide.

But she was too embarrassed about not being able to swim, at her age, and not a lot of people knew about it unless she was forced to tell them.

Shaking her head, she gained a little speed and removed her hands from the bars, gliding in precision as her arms swept straight out.

“Enough of those thoughts girl.” She muttered, eyes briefly closing. The little amount of wind cooled off the small sheen to her body and felt like heaven.

When she slowed down the bike started wobbling...but being so in tune with using her bike for so long, her hands were already steadying it as her feet pushed off again.

She removed her hands a second time and let them fall slack at her sides as she idly watched the path pass by. Every few seconds, her feet would kick off and give her another small bit speed.

She passed maybe a mile like that until her backside started aching from leaning on it so harshly and she resumed her previous position.

She used that change to take a right off the trail and head more into the city for where she was heading. Thankfully, she was nearly on top of it and the sun’s glare on windshields could be seen. A grin tipped her lips as she sped up just a little more with the promise of getting back into shade.

In the few minutes it took to cross the park and hit the water arena, the noises from inside hit her ears and she knew right away it was another busy day. That meant she shouldn’t be as big a pest as she originally intended to be.

As she chained up her bike, she shrugged and grabbed her water bottle to fill. ‘So be it then. I wonder if they still remember me...’

She didn’t know whether or not she would be intruding at a place of business, especially since she didn’t like people coming in just to talk when she should be working.

As if she had anyone that would do that in Miami ANYWAY...

She reveled in the temperature difference and let her eyes adjust to the dimmer lighting in the bathhouse. There were two people currently on duty, one she recognized.

Her lips slowly moved upward...

“Oh SHEERYYL...” She singsonged, feeling a small emotion of trepidation as an auburn head whipped toward the source of her name.

Would Sheryl recognize her? The last time they hung out was before she left for Miami and they hadn’t really kept in contact... Would her high school friends remember her? She hadn’t really changed in those short years...

“KALIE!!”

She needn’t have worried.

That tall body nearly scrambled out from behind the employee area and shot toward her, arms thrown wide, to embrace her and nearly lift her off the ground in a tight hug.

Oh the pains of being the shorter of the two...

She smiled and hugged the girl back, feeling a small bit of relief at the introduction.

‘I guess...distance and time DOESN’T matter to some people...’

“Kalie Himmen...my god how have you been??” Sheryl rambled, giving a wide smile. “Come on back, I know it’s employees only, but it’s not like anyone cares.”

Her hand was snatched up as she was led through the same door Sheryl exited from and plopped down on a padded bar stool. There was a glare from the water through the main window and she was momentarily drawn to it, squinting when it hit her eyes.

“So?? Tell me what’s been going on! I haven’t seen you since...last Christmas maybe? Or was it the thanksgiving before that? You still haven’t changed, you know that? Not physically at least.” Sheryl propped her head up on the wood counter and stared at her. Those hazel eyes waited in anticipation.

She smiled and leaned an elbow against the same counter. “Well, I’m still at Florida State... Classes let out last Friday and I decided to take part of my two weeks off to spend with my mom. Sammy drove me here and I biked it on the trail up.”

“Ah, Samantha Merth. That girl is a strange one...” Sheryl’s nose wrinkled a little through a good-humored smile.

She gave an evil grin. “At least you don’t LIVE with her.” She giggled, getting a wider smile from her friend. “All I hear her complain about is the heat and how hungry she is half the time. But at least she’s a willing participate to my cooking antics.”

Hazel knowingly twinkled. “You and your cooking fetishes... Last time you’ll ever convince me to eat tuna, noodles, and mayo.” That nose wrinkled again.

She laughed, feeling her cheeks heat a little. “Hey...it’s not ALL that bad. And you ATE it...” She defended. “Not to mention you were hungry and mom hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet. There wasn’t much food in the house. I had to improvise SOMEWHERE...”

Sheryl leaned back and stretched. “Just don’t improvise around me unless I know what you’re making and can say no to it.” After giving her legs the same treatment as her arms, the girl settled back down and absently looked to the pool area through the window.

“So...how’ve YOU been? How’s Hall? He out there today?” Deep green went to the window as well, searching what she could see.

“Yea, he’s guarding part of the deep end. But we get to call time in a few minutes, so you’ll be able to go see him swim around.”

Her gaze ducked to the concrete floor, fighting a small flush. “You are forever going to hold that over my head aren’t you? I’m not going out with your brother!” She mumbled, fighting a sheepish smile.

“Though he’s my brother, I’m going to shamelessly plug him this once.”

A hand drummed on the wood until she looked up, feeling a little frustration rise. This was NEVER going to end...

“You’ve been friends with me and Hall since sophomore year. That’s five years at LEAST. During that whole time, my brother has been nice enough to you. He’s kind, he likes animals, he has plans for the future, and you know he still has an interest in you.” A tanned hand snaked out and rested over hers. “I persuaded you to go out with him once...why didn’t you agree to a second date?”

Her eyes rested on the scenery past the window, her mind screaming in frustration at how much she wished this never came about. She and Sheryl were pretty good friends, considering it being a high school friendship, and she was glad to’ve been able to hang on to it when they graduated. But since the middle of junior year, all she’d been hearing was how she and Hall should go out.

Her lids lowered a tad. It wasn’t that she didn’t WANT to go out with Hall... He was everything his twin proclaimed him. She just...she didn’t know. At the time...she was still getting over Brad...

She didn’t WANT anyone that way... No one but Brad...

She stopped so suddenly with that thought and forced herself to be angry. ‘No more. No thinking about your screwed up relationships. It’s not like Sheryl really knows what happens ANYWAY...’

She rarely told a soul what happened with Brad. She didn’t tell anyone how much he hurt her. Only Sam knew what happened, and that took a lot of prying, mostly when there was no other way to explain her behaviors. Sheryl and Hall only knew she was going out with the guy, but they didn’t know of the pain she endured near the end...

Abruptly, she stood and twisted her gaze toward the front. She blinked upon seeing a few people leaning on the metal counter and no one else up front.

“You have customers.” She muttered, idly pointing.

Sheryl made a small frustrated noise, but headed up to the front. “Where’s that lazy bum when I need her? She was here when you arrived...” She muttered.

Those few minutes gave her time to force the resurrected emotions to the back of her mind, where they still lingered. She would stop thinking about the emotional pain she endured from that jackass. She pulled the hate from the depths of her mind and latched onto it.

Her gaze narrowed as she swung around and glared out the window, using the glare to hide her eyes’ real intent. Never again would she fall for someone like that. She learned her lesson...learned it twice actually.

She would never be used physically or emotionally, just because she wanted to be with a person. She would be her own person from now on and not latch onto ANYONE or need them as much as she needed both Brad AND Arthur.

Inhaling a deep breath, she held it until her lungs burned and carefully let it out without anyone hearing. As she exhaled, she forced all the bad emotions away, making her clamp down on the happiness she felt upon seeing her high school friend again.

‘No more dwelling on it...you have for too long already...’

“Alright...now that I had to get back to work after seeing my good friend in so long, I feel like punishing someone.” Deep green caught Sheryl moving to the far wall, a small grin rising at that playful tone. “Attention swimmers...please exit the water for a pool safety check...”

She couldn’t help chuckle at the girl. Nothing like forcing a whole lot of people out of cold water with little to no wind on a cloudless, hot day.

That was true punishment indeed.

“Now, shall I go gain my brother and let you say hello?”

She smiled and hurried to catch up. “I’ll go with you. See if I know anyone else from high school here.”

Sheryl snorted. “Not ALL high school graduates gain a summer job at a pool house you know.”

The smile widened. “Really?” A hand shaded her from the bright sun. “I spot...two more lifeguards that were a year under me, and the one in the kiddy pool was in our class.”

“What can I say...Westchester’s a small city...”

True... Her hometown couldn’t really be called a TOWN, but it was still three, if not four, times smaller than Miami.

About half a dozen splashes drew her attention to the deep end. She focused on the bodies heading to the other side, totally submerged, before surfacing for air and heading back the same way.

One body held her attention over all the others, even though all the male lifeguards were rather nice to look at. No...what made this body stand out was the cropped auburn hair...mildly toned body with the hint of a tummy...skin bronzed by many days outside guarding the kids...and those identical hazel eyes she just got done looking at, covered by sunglasses...

She smiled as he surface, finding herself already heading over. She stood mere feet away from the edge of the pool, smiling down as his arms propelled him off the side and paused.

She knew he was staring at her, she could feel the tugging at her mouth to give a self-conscious, shy smile. They hadn’t spoken since she and Sheryl had...it’d been so long...

“K!”

That body eagerly hauled the rest of the way out of the pool and wrapped her in a sopping wet hug before she could protest his state.

“You’re all WET Hall!” She nearly screeched, even though the seeping water felt good on her skin. Not that she was going to tell HIM that...

Hall pulled back with a nearly sheepish grin, only staved off by the fact of seeing her again. His head dipped once to take in her attire, what was now darkened where he touched her, and grinned wider. “You’ll dry, trust me.” An arm slung over her shoulders as he led her back to his twin and the three headed back into the employee area.

She heaved a sigh, fighting the heat at her cheeks in embarrassment. Her shirt wasn’t that bad, thankfully, but the front of her shorts were practically plastered to her from his swim trunks. Still...at least that breeze felt even better now...

“So tell me, what’s been going on? You still at college? Still in Miami? What’d you come back for? Did you come all this way just to see me?”

“One at a time Hall.” She helplessly mused, hands in front in defense. “I’ll have to explain this all again. You missed the first report to Sheryl.”

‘But this time...no digging into the past.’ She darkly promised.

~*~*~

“You have everything?”

“Yes mother.”

“Are you sure??”

“YES mother...”

“Well I don’t want you to have to drive all the way back here. I know you’re busy, even if you have a key.”

“We’ll be okay Ms. Himmen. If K forgets anything, we’ll be able to come back. After all...we’ve both got another week off of classes before the fall semester starts.”

“God bless time off!” She added, grinning.

She grabbed the large backpack and hauled it to her shoulder. There was a second of silence before she met her mother halfway for a hug.

“You be good now.”

“I will.”

“Study hard. Get good grades.”

“I will.”

“I’ll miss you.”

“I know.”

“I love you.”

She returned the small squeeze, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek in response.

When the two pulled away, she absently stared and rested a hand on the strap. “I’ll write or call when vacation swings around.” She quietly answered.

“Come on K; let’s not drag this out like always.” Sam pleasantly answered, clapping a hand on her shoulder.

Deep green sent a small glare to her best friend, before sullenly nodding. Sam was right...as always. She DID drag it out too much...but it was just so nice to see her mother sometimes...

As they headed down the stairs, she waved to her mother a final time and got in the car.

“So, what’d you get me huh? Anything good? Is it edible?? I suppose you’re not going to tell me until we get back...”

She smiled and reclined in the seat as Sam headed down the street. Deep green focused on the top of the car, mostly to keep herself from watching her old neighborhood flow by.

She hated leaving...here was one of the few places she felt like she didn’t have to be someone else. Not to mention she was away from school and all the responsibilities she’d undertaken. It was rather nice to let them all go sometimes...

The smallest of weights dropped in her lap and she looked to it in wonder. An envelope glared back at her as it caught the sun. “What’s this?”

“The deed to my car. What does it look like?”

She tried to scowl at Sam’s tone and turned the letter to see the address.

Her eyes widened and a small excitement hit her veins.

“It’s...from Inaki...” A grin spread unknown as she idly stared at his handwriting.

“No duh. Do you know anyone ELSE who sends you snail mail?”

As smart-aleck as Sam was being, she was right. Other than bills, she really didn’t GET mail. Which was why she was beginning to like conversing with Inaki. Even IF this was the start of their pen pal relationship.

“When did this come?” She muttered, breaking the envelope open.

“Thursday afternoon. I thought I’d bring it with me so you could read it on the way back.”

She smiled, already unfolding the pages. “Thanks Sam.”

“De nada chica.”

@~~~~~    Decided to put up a commentary every 10 chapters and perhaps explain a few things. I've got a small one already in the 'settings' where my updates are, so these will be relatively small.        People have made mention of the eye color thing instead of me using he/she/her/him or names. There's a point to that. Especially with Kalie--one needs to know what her eye color is for later chapters and I'm stressing it by putting it down so much. Also a helper for Inaki--to help remind those which form he's in.        Some also mentioned the slow-going plot, but I explained it in the 'settings' area.        As far as being mysterious and not giving out any or much information--as in this chapter--there's ALSO reasons for that. One-it makes the reader that much shocked when they finally DO read it. Two-when reading the character's thoughts/movements when information is revealed (especially regarding Kalie), the words are easier to get dug into, and also relate to. When you think to yourself, 'Whoa...that's nuts! How sad. I can't believe it!' So will Inaki, Sam, etc You'll relate.  ^__^       The only warning I'm giving over the next 10 chapters is this is going to start the first plot. As I said in 'settings', I have maybe half a dozen planned out for sure, and maybe 2 or 3 more I don't know of. Next commentary will be over secondary characters--primary being Inaki and Kalie--and their connections to the primary characters. Also a few explanations over some people you prolly don't like-like Cameron Blitz. ^^;    ~~~~~@

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