Head over Heels || book one.

Good Morning

Stef’s POV

So Sarah’s mad at Cassie, Cassie thinks that I’m right and I’m stuck in the middle.

We had sandwiches for lunch and then it was pretty much a rest hour. We all sort of fell asleep or did some reading or watched a movie.

“Hey, Sarah.” I called to her. She was sitting on one of the cafe chairs with her legs hanging over one side, and one elbow resting on the other.

“Yeah.” She looked up lazily at me.

“Tell me what you were going to tell me before, about the beach.” I whispered.

She looked around before leaning in to tell me. “I told him that we talked about all the guys and he laughed, then he confronted me about what we talked about them, and I looked up at him and told him that he knew enough about me anyway so that way he stopped asking questions.”

I nodded. “So he didn’t kiss you? And he still hasn’t?” I asked.

Sarah shook her head. “No. But don’t forget that I’m not even sure if I like-like him.”

“You do. You’re just too scared to admit it to yourself. But when you do realise, it might be too late.” I observed.

She rolled her eyes, but I saw her mentally agree with me. “When I do like-like him-no. If I do end up like-liking him, you and Cass will be the first to know.” She promised. I nodded and turned back to my book.

Sarah’s POV

It was after dinner when I finally had the guts to tell myself that I was wrong about a fair few things. First. I shouldn’t have yelled at Cassie, Stef was right, it would be too late, she was also always going to be better at me at tennis and I maybe, liked Josh.

I had a really bad headache that night. I went to sleep at about nine thirty, and I remember falling asleep on the couch, all curled up, in my quilt, then waking up, I was in my bed. I still had a headache, but somebody had the kindness enough to put me to bed. I fell asleep again, it was ten thirty.

I woke up covered in perspiration. I sat up frantically. My breathing was erratic and my hands were trembling. I slowed my breathing and turned, dangling my legs over the side of the bed. ‘Just a bad dream.’ I told myself. As much as I slowed my breathing, my heart was still racing. I hugged my knees to my chin and squeezed my eyes shut as tears formed in the corners of my eyes.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” I felt Josh sit up behind me, next thing I knew, he had one arm across the back of my shoulders and hugging me to him. “Sh. It’s alright. Sh.” He gently rocked me back a forth. “What’s wrong?” He whispered.

“J-just a b-bad dr-ream.” I sobbed.

“About what, love?” Love. He called me love. Just a widely used nickname for women friends.

“I’d like to go for a walk.” I sobbed, slowly getting up. I pulled on my coat on and slipped on my shoes. I turned and saw Josh doing the same.

I opened the back door and began to walk. He closed the door and caught up with me. He gently grabbed my hand. I looked down at it. He really did care for me. My eyes followed up to his face. He was softly smiling at me.

We crossed the road and began to go up the board walk. We sat down with our legs dangling over the edge of the stairs. He laid his arm around my shoulders and I rested my head on his chest.

“What was your nightmare about, love?” Again with the nicknames!

“I was standing up here. On the boardwalk, and-and out there in the water, somebody was floating, drowning. I looked back into the town to call for help, and when I looked back, the person was gone, it was just water. And the waves began to get bigger and bigger, but...” I paused to sob. ‘I’m not going to cry.’ I told myself. Josh looked at me expectantly. “But that person in the water was what scared me most.” I stopped then and looked up at him. “It was you.”