See You Again

XX

Although the sun is shining bright and it was what anyone would deem a perfect day, I was not having a good day.

The small cafe we had gone to during Christmas break had put some outside tables with large umbrellas shielding us from the sun. I was sitting at a table with Vanessa, drinking coffee under the bright heat.

"Are you still going to the beach later?" she asked me, taking a sip of her green tea.

I shrugged. Enjoying the beach was the reason to come here, but I did not feel in the mood to see Kenzie. It's not that I am mad at her, but... I don't know, I'm confused.

When I saw her in the kitchen having breakfast in her vaporous dress this morning, I didn't want to talk to her. I was still upset after last night. Not just upset, I had this frustration in my chest, a feeling I couldn't quite name that was driving me insane. I hated feeling like this and though I urged for her attention, for some crazy reason, I couldn't stand beside her without thinking about how she left me last night.

"You should come. I'm going anyway," she said and then lifted a brow. "Is something wrong, darling?"

"No. Everything is great. " I tried to sound relaxed when I was everything but that. She had asked me to stay away from Kenzie, but that was exactly the opposite of what I did. I can't tell her I'm upset because of her.

"Don't lie to me." She looked at me with those beautiful green eyes I knew so well. She was gorgeous in the way society had considered beauty was, not flawed, simply perfect. I was used to that beauty.

I forced a smile. "I'm not. I'm anxious over Etsy's arrival."

"Why? She loves you," Vanessa beamed. "You shouldn't be stressed over that."

"I know. But I have to keep the good impression," I added, not a complete lie.

I think she took it since she didn't press further on.

Eventually, she went to the beach, and I followed. Leah and Peter were laying on the sand and two other towels were beside them but I saw nobody else. Since I knew Ezra was out with Phoebe, those could only belong to Emily and McKenzie, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Vanessa was wearing a dark green swimsuit under her white dress when she sank on the towel. She turned to me, asking me to put sun cream on her.

She stayed laying there the whole afternoon, not going into the water once, even as I asked her to come with me. Maybe the water was just too cold or maybe she was enjoying being under the sun.

Anyway, I went for a swim by myself. Although the water was freezing, it wasn't so impossible to be inside. I could see the floater shining far away, but I didn't even get close as I swam.

To my surprise, I started hearing voices. On the other side of a vast wall of rock that started in the sand and entered the sea, almost as long as the path to the lighthouse, there was a small beach. Accessible only by the sea, the other side of the stone wall was inclined and then became flat by the level of the water and was covered by sand, showing many holes and caves inside the mass.

"Is Etsy coming today?" a voice resonated, and I recognised it as Emily. 

"I think so... Oh, look at this shell, it's so big," Kenzie answered, and I started seeing them walking out of a cave.

"What a shame Leah isn't going away. She's annoying me," Emily said. "They have changed, haven't they?"

"Yeah, they did... But they're not awful. Peter is still the same and Vanessa isn't the worst friend ever. It's just sad that she's doing that to poor William and he can't even see it."