There I Go Again

Chapter 5

he Next Summer

Kassie walked into her bedroom putting down her bags on her bed. She flopped onto an empty space and closed her eyes. She laid there for about 10 minutes waiting for someone to notice she wasn’t do anything with them.

”God, y’all suck…” she walked out in the hallway to see her father, step mother, brother, sister and half brothers watching tv.

”Well, Kass…you said you were tired so we let you sleep…” Janie answered.

”Oh…I guess I did say that…” she answered squeezing in between her brother and sister.

A few minutes into the movie they were watching she got a text message from Jordan.

Come to the beach tonight. We miss you toonnnnsss.

Kassie showed the text to her brother who had suddenly grown up over the school year. As a soon to be freshman he felt the need to do everything his sisters ever did- which included going to summer beach parties with her. She had warned him to just say as far away from her as possible.

”Sam, do you want to go with me?” she asked showing him the text message.

”Yeees! And let me get my guitar….” he said jumping up from his seat.

”Come on, Sam….you’re not going on an overnight trip or anything…” Kassie complained sitting on the porch waiting for her brother to come outside. Kassie glanced over at Bruno’s house knowing that they were at the party. But then she saw a green Jeep pull up at his house. They stayed in touch through the miracle of the internet, so she knew it was him. She jumped up from her spot on the porch running toward the driver’s side of the car.

”Bruno! Yeeessss! You can take us there…SAAAMMMM! Hurry upppp!” she turned around catching Sam walking out the door.

”Hi, Kassandra…” he said to her calmly. That wasn’t the response I thought I would get….she thought to herself.

”Hi Kassandra…” she heard a girl’s voice behind her.

”Claire?” Kassie turned around to see one of Olivia’s friends in the car with him. Bruno didn’t say a word.

”We’ll walk, Bruno. I’ll see you there…” Kassie said turning her heels to face her brother. ”Come on Sam…we’ll get there before them anyway….” she told her brother walking in the opposite direction.

**

”They got together during homecoming…but she’s shit, Kass. Like pure shit…she’s a shameless flirt. She flirts with everyone. And he takes it. Like it’s embarrassing. She drags him around wherever she goes just because people know who he is. It’s like ‘ you’re going to be college next year. Maybe you should upgrade…’” Jordan told her. Jordan could tell that whatever Bruno was doing was hurting her feelings.

”He just never told me about her. Tiara didn’t either…” she pointed at Tiara.

”I didn’t think you would have wanted to know. You are all about Nathan…” Tiara answered.

”Yeah..you couldn’t shut up about him last time I talked to you….” Tahiti interjected.

”Oh…I guess…” Kassie said sadly remembering the conversation she had had with Tahiti about two months ago. Since then Nathan had broken up with her to date her ex best friend Stephanie.

They continued talking about boys, the summer, working…working during the summer…and all other things as Bruno and his friends played random songs in the background. Kassie turned around to look at him a few times. I’ll be waiting for you, my ass. She thought to herself as she put on a sweater walking over to Claire.

”What are you going to do when you leave for Washington?” Kassie asked her.

”I don’t know…we really haven’t talked about it. He said he wants to move to California..with Jamie…but he still has a year of school left…”

”A year?” Kassie asked shocked because he was always a year behind her. Kassie, two months older than Bruno, had started school a year earlier because her birthday was on August 31…Bruno’s in October kept him behind her

”Yeah…he says he wants to do music for the rest of his life…” Claire told her.

”He’s going to be a pro-surfer before that works for him…” Kassie said matter of factly walking away. She couldn’t stand Clai

”I’m going to go home….” she said walking over to her friends picking up her things. ”Can y’all make sure that Sam knows I went home?”

”Mmmhmm….” one of the girls answered taking a sip of her drink.

Kassie trudged up the hill where everyone was contemplating how horrible her summer was. The boy she had thought she had feelings for had gone off and gotten a girlfriend before she could even bother. Her feet hit the pavement of the street quietly. She turned around to see Bruno running up to her.

”Kasssieeee….wait….” he yelled at her. ”Let me take you home….” he said playing with the keys to the car.

”No, Bruno…that’s weird…” she responded walking around the other cars

”Kittiee…come on. It’s a two second drive. She won’t be mad at me. She knows you live next door to me…and it’s dark. The sharks will get you…” Kassie turned around laughing at his comment.

”I swim fast, Bruno…” she answered continuing to walk

”Kass…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…” he told her grabbing her hand.

”Why would you touch me like that, Bruno?” Kassie asked him feeling tingly. With his hair cut and a baseball hat on she felt as though something about him had changed over the school year. She was kind of in love with it. But she couldn’t. He had a girlfriend, even if she hated her. He has a girlfriend..I can’t be that girl…Kassie thought to herself.

”Touch you how?” he asked her.

"Like last summer…” she told him.

”I…I don’t know what you mean, Kassie…” he responded.

”Bruno plus Kassandra? I’ll be waiting for you? Bruno…you’re a jerk.” she said to him walking away from him not waiting for a response from him.

”Kassandra….you’re practically married to Nathan…and you’re 16…” Bruno yelled at her catching up to he

”Bruno….we broke up…he decided that Stephanie was more important than I was….she was my best friend. And I thought I could count on you to be there for me…but you’re not. So that’s it. That’s how it’s going to be. End of story. Go back to your car and Claire…go…” she pointed towards the other side of the street with her eyes tearing up. She turned around for the final time that night. Bruno went back to the beach to be with Claire