Arctic Atlantic

Chapter Two: Trainers and Tiaras

Every morning, I take our speed boat to the middle of the island, then the bus to the high school. Well, actually Brooks drives the speedboat.

First period for me is history. One of my worst subjects. But my best friend, Winter, is in that class. She's a genius. Her family has lived in California for multiple generations, so I think it's ironic that her parents named her Winter, considering San Diego barely even gets a winter. She's the typical Cali girl: blonde, wavy hair, tan skin, ocean blue eyes, you know the type. But she's still a genius. So I make her help me with everything school related.

It's March, and everyone is anxious for school to end and summer to come. When school lets out for the day, it's always a rush to get out the doors, and to the beach. Brooks and I carpool, or carboat or whatever, with our neighbor and veterinarian's son, Matthew, and his sister. Matt has medium length, wavy, light brown hair, green eyes, and tan skin. Wow, shocker ain't it. I've known him since, like, forever. I have last class with him, so we walk out to the bus and wait for Brooks. He's late. Again. Probably with his girlfriend. Gross.

Sure enough, a few minutes later he walks up hand in hand with the infamous Shelby Goldere. More like Shelby Golden. Her and Brooks are the golden couple of the school. Seniors. Perfect tans, perfect hair, perfect teeth, body, grades, and anything else you could think of. Brooks stole all the good genes before I was born. More than his share. Butthole. I, on the other hand, have braces. And pimples. But I use this new skin care stuff and it works wonders. And braces come off in a month. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Brooks, honey, hurry up the bus is leaving!" Matthew yells in a high pitched voice. He and Matt are closer than Brooks and I. They tease each other all the time. I guess Matt looks up to him, since he has 4 sisters and a basically nonexistent father. He works in business and is never home. And when he is home, he doesn't have time for his only son.

Our houseboat was designed for a big family when my grandparents were first married. It has 5 bedrooms(4 compacts, one master), 2 bathrooms, a big living room(for a houseboat) and a combined kitchen and dining room. The roof has a little bar for when my parents have friends over, some lounge chairs, a covered swing, a few coffee tables, a mini kitchen, and plants. Lots of plants. And all those knick-knacks that all houseboats have: surfboards, life preservers, etc.

I get my own balcony. The only balcony. It over looks the harbor and beach. That's where I got my first kiss. From Damian Cabrillo. In 9th grade. Well, on the cheek. It still half counts.

But I am kinda glad it wasn't a full on kiss because I hate that guy now and I would not want him to be my lip virgin thief.

After we get back to the houseboat, we have thirty minutes to do whatever we want before we start our homework. After homework, we usually have around an hour, depending on how much homework we have, to do whatever before we go help at the MARC.

Matt and I finish our math homework, then he starts on his Bio homework. I finished that in class. Science, basically every type, is my strong suit.

"Bex, help me with this?" he asks.

"What?" I reply

"What are the main factors in unnatural land animal deaths?" He asks.

"How am I supposed to know that?" I say.

"Because you're a genius at science. Dummy," he mutters.

"Oh yea, I seem to remember now. Habitat loss is number one, I think."

"Of course," he mutters again. "Hey I was thinking about asking Sarah Jenner to Spring Formal. What do you think about that? Do you think she will say yes?"