Forgetting Axel |✔️

••• FOUR •••

Rolling over, I shove my face into the pillow, groaning as the sunlight streams in. My arms spread across the surface of the bed, grabbing at the familiar sheets as I stretch my legs. Maybe a long night was not the best decision. Not to mention today is a long day at the beach for surfing and sports with everyone I graduated with.

"You okay?"

Tilting my head up, I smile as Charlie enters the room, drying his damp hair with a towel.

"Shower already?" I ask, sitting up as I stretch out my arms, the blanket falling off of my front.

He nods, walking over to his dresser, throwing me a shirt as I grab my bikini top. Another day at the beach awaits after a night of partying and being tangled in the sheets. A day followed after seeing the boy who broke the girl I once was.

"Went for a run this morning, I woke you up, but you didn't move really," Charlie explains, chuckling.

As I put my top back on, followed by the shirt, I get to my feet, grabbing my bikini bottoms. Once finished, I walk over to Charlie, running my hands through his newly-cleaned hair. "Do you want some breakfast before we head out? William stopped bye earlier and brought some pancakes with him."

We eat in his room, watching the local news as we're too comfortable to move and group the remote. In fifteen minutes we're driving to my house for a change of clothes, my parents already gone for the day.

With a fresh pair of shorts over swimming suit and a tank top now on, we head back out, prepared for another long day. For all I know this could either be a great day where I don't see Axel at all. But I doubt he will even be there. It's a group of just graduated classmates. No one more. No one less. Axel showing up at last night's party is only because it was a party open to more of the public sector of people my age in the town.

By the time we arrive at the beach, it's packed, old classmates everywhere as they do a variety of items. From volleyball to lounging around, surfing to eating, and rugby to just chatting, there's much to do. I'd guess around seventy are here already, half the size of our town's just graduated high schoolers.

Charlie takes my hand, walking with me to the area a group of his buddies have called him over to. Looking around as we walk, I scan the crowds of people for a familiar face that I do not want to see at all.

"Dude, did you hear about Amanda?" Charlie's good friend, Asher, asks right off the bat. His tone is strange, concerned, worried.

"Amanda Potter?" I ask, gaining a few glances from Charlie's old teammates.

Asher nods, an emotion of despair crossing his eyes as I begin to worry. Was she drugged? Raped? Just last night I saw her, smiling and laughing as her boyfriend greeted her with a hug.

I look around for James, Amanda's boyfriend. A theater kid, one of the sweetest around, and a childhood friend. A childhood friend like everyone here.

"You won't find her here," Asher comments as I look around even more, worried for the popular soccer player who Asher seems worried about.

"Why not?" Charlie asks, his grip on my hand tightening. He's worried. He's worried for a girl he barely knows. That's another reason why I fell for him, because he cares for every soul no matter how much of a stranger they may be.

Asher looks down for a second, shaking his head before he looks back up to meet Charlie's gaze. "Two moms found her this morning."

"Passed out?" I ask, my heart thumping in my chest as my skin pales.

"Dead. Police are still keeping it under wraps but from what the news is saying, it was some animal attack," Asher explains as the bright smile of a once beautiful girl passes through my mind.