Friendly Dating - Kira

Chapter 34 - Individuals

"Wanna go to the waterfall? The water will be nice now that the rain's gone."

Jet is right; the pool at the waterfall is at its best right after the kind of rain we've had on and off today.

"I'm in," Delia says, where she's hiding under Simon's arm, holding onto the hand hanging at her shoulder. "How about you, Sy?"

"Why not?" he grins.

I take a peek at Ethan, surprised that he hasn't responded yet. Usually, he is the first to suggest going to the waterfall and would be hard to stop from going there right away now. He is not saying anything, just quietly holding my hand, staring off into the distance at a land far, far away, over the horizon and down the hills.

"Ethy?"

I wonder if he's still upset about the whole Amber thing. He'd been really quiet all day today; even after the break, he didn't turn any of our classes into anarchy or anything normal like that. Not even in the few classes we shared with Jet and Barn. He quietly did the assigned work and even vaguely seemed to be paying attention to the lessons being taught. That is, of course, not possible at all.

At least his eyes no longer have that dull, sad look to them they had this morning; he just seems preoccupied.

"Dude?!" Barn barks a laugh, slapping him on the back. "Are you sleepwalking?"

Ethan blinks his eyes, grinning a little sheepishly. He really was far away. A large group of his friends are gathered at the gate, saying goodbye to each other. Some are planning on going to the waterfall, while others are not. I'm still waiting to see if Ethan wants to go for a swim.

"Do you wanna go, Kicks?" he asks me, and I really cannot tell what he wants me to answer.

I honestly don't care if I go or not, but I know he never passes up on a chance for a swim. "Sure," I say, smiling up at him, giving his hand a squeeze. What I'd really like to do is sit down and talk to him, see if he is okay, but perhaps a swim will do him some good. The sun is already beating down relentlessly, regretting its decision to retreat all morning, allowing us to have a cold shower or two.

"Okay," Ethan says, grinning at Barn.

"Yeah!" Lurch laughs happily. "Are we going home to change, or are we skinny dipping?"

I roll my eyes and peer up at Ethan to see if he is suffering from the same delusions as his friend. To my surprise, he is once again just staring off into the distance, causing me to feel highly uncomfortable now.

"Actually, Brian," Tonia says, stepping out of Lurch's embrace. "After the kind of rain, we've just had, the lighting in Scarlet Park is just perfect for drawing the sculptures. I really want to go draw them now."

Lurch is looking at his girlfriend as if she'd just spoken to him in some alien language only her species could possibly understand.

"You... want to go to Ghosties?"

Scarlet Park, also known as the children's sanctuary or kiddie park... and, as Lurch just demonstrated, rather insensitively as Ghosties, is a pretty park in the shadow of the mountains. The gardens are well-maintained and lush, filled with trees and flowers, monkey vines and dripping moss. It is one of the most beautiful semi-wild parks in all of Summerfields.

More than a hundred years ago, a heartbroken mother, Eleanor Richford, had a statue of her little girl erected in the sheltered hollow of the mountain in memory of the seven-year-old daughter she'd lost to scarlet fever. According to the stories, the spot between some flowers where the statue was placed used to be the little girl's favourite play zone. Lily Richford's statue is a life-sized replica of her sitting amongst the flowers, playing with her dolls.