Chasing Courtney

Chapter Three

The near-black ocean rocked the boat slowly from side to side. On the left side, in elegant cursive, it read "Amazing Grace". The full moon shimmered on the water and somewhere in the distance crickets chirped. I knew this scene all too well.

A little three year old girl, named Alexis Mattison, tossed and turned in her bed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't sleep. She slowly slipped out of bed, planning on going to her parents' room to ask if her mom could put her to sleep. She groped the wall and finally found the door. She turned the golden doorknob slowly and stepped out into the hall.

I woke up with a start. I couldn't believe that after nine years that dream still haunted me. I looked at the clock. 4:23 am. I groaned and laid back down on my pillow. I was on the bottom bunk, to my dismay. There was a little bit of an argument on who would get what bed. Lauren, being the guest, chose first. She chose the top bunk of the bunk bed. Then, Courtney and I flipped a coin to chose next. She chose the single bed. The only upside to the bottom bunk is that I'm eye-level to the window that looks out onto the Charles River. I was used to the gorgeous scenery by now, (we had been there a week) but I was always surprised by how different it looked each time.

The inky black sky was lit up by little stars. The river reflected the beautiful scene. Little trees and streetlamps dotted the picturesque scene. I was tempted to pull out my camera and send the picture to the postcard manufacturing office.

Knowing I would never sleep looking out the window, I flipped over and looked at the much less pretty wall. I closed my eyes and snuggled deeper into my covers. I was nearly asleep when I felt a poke on my arm.

"Alexis?" a small voice whispered.

"Mmm?" I flipped over and groggily opened my eyes. Standing before me was Ariana, holding her little blue blanket and her stuffed kangaroo.

"Can I sleep with you? I keep on hearing scary noises in my room. And Mr. Roo couldn't protect me. " She said, her silky voice muffled by her stuffed animal.

"Um, sure." I scooted over, leaving room for her. She struggled to climb onto the bed, holding all of her stuffed animals. But after about five minutes, she finally got on.

"Nighty night Lexi. I love you!" Ariana whispered and gave me an awkward side-hug.

"You too, Ari."

She closed her eyes, and I absentmindedly stroked her hair. Her breathing steadied and she began to snore a little. I hugged her close. Courtney and Bennett loved Ari, but I loved her more than Sloane did sometimes. I felt as if it were my obligation to protect her. And I knew if Ariana was my real sister, my mom would expect me to. Ariana's steady breathing instantly calmed me, and I fell back asleep.

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"So what do you want to do today?" Courtney asked as she sat down next to me on the worn couch.

It was a bright sunny morning. Out the window, we saw people jogging, biking, pushing baby carriages and leisurely strolling. According to Sloane, this day was about to go into the low nineties. Benn had gone to Harvard summer school (being the teacher's pet he is, he enrolled himself), Sloane and Dad were going to meet up with an up-and-coming screenwriter and Arianna was at camp until 3:30. What were Court, Lauren and I doing? Nothing.

"We could go to the Mueseum of Science!" Lauren suggested. She really wanted to go in the hopes the Harry Potter exhibition would still be there.

"Lauren, the exhibit closed over a year ago. Get over it." Courtney said.

"Petrificus totalus!" Lauren waved her hands as if she were holding a wand.

"You're pathetic." Courtney snorted.

"Snorting makes you lose brain cells!" Lauren retorted.

"You must snort a lot then." Courtney raised her eyebrows, egging Lauren on.

"Children!" I glared at both of them. They looked down into their laps guiltily. "We could do sailing on the Charles River."

"Nahh." Lauren said.

"We could go to the Museum of Fine Arts! Laur, you love art!" I tried to persuade. I had heard they had a super cool glass exhibit by Dale Chihuly.

"I thought we agreed not to go to a musuem unless Dad or Sloane forced us to." Courtney twirled her hair around her finger.

"Unless it's the Museum of Science!" Lauren chimed in.

I dug deep into my brain to think of something. Got it! "Let's go shopping on Newbury Street."

They both snapped to attention. Since Lauren's mom was a designer for a small clothes store on Nantucket and Lauren's dad is usually jetting off to Paris and London to collaborate with the biggest designers, she's no stranger to shopping. Like some kids play tennis or soccer, Courtney shopped. End of story. The only time I had ever seen Lauren and Courtney get along is when they were talking about shopping.

"Sounds like a plan! I heard DVF is having a sale!" Courtney

"Then lezdoit!" Lauren clapped her hands and smiled.

Looking back on that moment, I chuckle at our vulnerability. But little did we know that was one shopping trip we would never forget.

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Author's Note: sooo what did u think? awesome? awful? life-scarring? i hope not!! plz comment!! and thank u 2 the people who voted for this 5 times i ran around my room screaming with joy :) and also thank u 2 my second fan scrottielottie!! your awesome!!