One More Summer

Chapter 1

-Leah-

        "I'm going to beat you this time!" I yelled as I threw my entire body into the simple motions it took to twist the Wii remote.

        "Yeah, whatever," Grayson, my little brother, sighed. 

        "Damn it." I threw the remote on the floor as Grayson passed the finish line seconds before me. "You win the title of best at Mario Kart. I surrender." The doorbell rang as I stood up to turn the system off.

        "Leah!" my mother's pleasant voice called out from the front hall. "It's Casey!" I walked to the front door, grabbing my sunglasses, slinging my purse across my shoulder, and slipping into my Vans before stepping outside.

        "Bye, Mom, I'll be back before dinner," I said, following my best friend out to her car. 

        "You seemed eager to get out of there," Casey noted as I got in the front seat. I glanced in the side mirror, smoothing down my long, auburn hair. 

        "Yeah, well, Grayson and I were having a Mario Kart face off. I lost every single one," I laughed sheepishly as she pushed her (very short) light blonde hair out of her face and began to drive.

        "That's embarrassing. He's, what, twelve in a few days?" 

        "Yeah. It's sad. Where are we off to next?" Casey had been out of town, on a trip to London (lucky!) for the past four weeks, and it had been a while before we'd actually hung out.

        "Hot Topic!" she practically screamed, and I laughed.

        "As long as we can get coffee afterwards." Hot Topic was my favorite store, but coffee was better.

        "Ugh. All right," Casey laughed a little giggle again. 

        When we we got to Hot Topic, we almost immediately split up. She went right to the band t's, while I headed for anything Superwholock. We switched, and by the time we were both ready to buy our stuff, I was holding a Supernatural shirt, two Dr. Who shirts, a Sherlock shirt, two My Chemical Romance shirts (my all-time favorite band) and (yet another) pair of skinny jeans.

        "Wow, someone's splurging," Casey laughed as I placed my stuff on the counter. The guy behind the counter smiled at me as he rang up the cost. I looked at his long, curly, brown hair, dimples, and snake bites. He was pretty good looking. I caught Casey looking at him the same way.

        We paid for our things, and Casey somehow managed to get the boy's (Ashton) number before we left. She convinced me to go to a few more stores, where I only ended up buying another pair of Vans.

        "Where are we off to now?" Casey asked as we loaded yet more bags into her car.

        "Let's go walk along the beach. I really want some ice cream," I suggested as Casey pulled out of the parking lot.

        "That sounds great!" We went to an adorable little ice cream shop before heading off to the beach. Casey tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear as she slurped a root beer float. We laughed and talked and I drank my cotton candy malt. We were heading back as the sun was about to set when Casey tugged on my arm. 

        "Leah. Look," she said in a hushed voice, pointing to where a boy and a girl were yelling at each other.

        "That's none of our business, Case," I scolded her as we neared the pair. Casey turned to me with a hurt expression on her face.

        "How come it was your business with me?" she asked, sounding like a child. I sighed. It was true. I'd seen Casey and her (now) ex fighting outside the mall in the parking lot, and I'd stepped in. Casey had been my  best friend ever since. But there was one big difference between then and now. 

        "Jordan punched you," I pointed out. We were close enough now to hear what was being yelled. I twisted around to look at them when a particularly ugly string of cuss words was said, and saw his palm connect with her face. I fought down a sudden burst of anger and ran up to where the girl stood, shielding her from any more blows.

        "What the fuck was that for?!" I yelled as Casey ran up to me and comforted the girl.

        "This has nothing to do with you," the boy growled angrily, pushing me aside. I stumbled righ back in front of the girl, who was crying in Casey's arms. 

        "I found out something that made me really mad today," he said with an Australian accent. The girl lifted her head to look at me.

        "Michael, stop," she sniffled angrily. "I know what I did was wrong. I-I don't know what I was thinking. I swear I didn't mean to kiss him. That's why I told you. I'm so sorry," she sobbed again.

        "I don't want to hear it, Emma. I always knew you were a bitch," Michael said coldly, turning to walk away. Before I really knew what was happening, I whipped around and pushed him as hard as I could. He fell backwards and landed in the ocean.

        "Oh my fucking God," he yelled as he stood up, soaking wet, and walked angrily towards me. I flipped him off, and Casey, Emma, and I ran for the car. By the time we reached Casey's car, the three of us were laughing, but it didn't last long. Before we knew it, Emma was sobbing again. 

        "Do you need a ride?" I gently asked her, and she nodded.

        "But I can't really go home tonight." Casey looked at Emma confused, while I hugged her tighter.

        "I understand. You can crash at my place," I said, and she smiled at me gratefully. Casey dropped Emma, me, and my bags off at home.        

        "I'm sorry the guest room is such a mess," I said as I frantically cleared a space for Emma in the room that Grayson and I had taken over as the game room.

        "It's-it's fine," Emma whispered, sitting down on the bed.

        "You okay? Or do you want me to stay down here with you?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

        "You'd be okay with that?" Emma said quietly, and I could tell she was trying not to cry. 

        "Yeah. It'd be okay with that," I said, standing up and making a temporary bed out of pillows and blankets on the ground.

        "Thank you so much," Emma said seriously, sitting up and twisting around to look at me.

        "You're welcome, Emma," I smiled, and she shyly grinned back at me.