** REWRITING ** Tidal Wave

Chapter Nineteen

If Coby High played hard on the field, they partied even harder on the shore.

The beach the Taylor's and I went to as kids, Seaside Cove, was the best spot for a rager Kiera told me. No houses over looked the beach and the only way to get to it was a little path through the woods. People couldn't report them and even if they did, the police would have lots of trouble getting to the party.

Seaside Cove lived up to it's reputation. The ground beneath my feet consisted of more broken beer bottles then sand. No wonder we had found so much 'sea glass' when we were little.

People who wondered Seaside without shoes were crazy or drunk. Most likely the latter. A slightly less drunk friend would usually help the person of the beach. For their sake and their feet's.

Three huge bonfires, I'm talking taller than me, were arranged in a triangle for visibility and warmth, though they provided neither. I could barely see ten feet in front of me and I was even colder then I had been at the game.

"Wet wood," Kiera told me as I coughed. The smoke from the bonfire made the beach seem like a place in a horroe movie. She drank the last bit of her beer and threw it to the side. "Anyways, the first party always sucks." I nodded like I understood but I didn't. She pulled out eyeliner from her pocket.

Was she seriously going to do her makeup here? But then Kiera did something wierd. She made a single tally on her arm and reached into the cooler for another drink. I gave her a questioning look.

Kiera sighed. "I make a tally every time I grab a drink." I didn't ask her to elaborate but she did. "I don't want to end up like him." With the metion of her father, Kiera spat on the ground and took a long sip of beer.

"Does, um, Grayson usually come to these things?" I asked.

"Come to them? He practically runs them." I raised an eyebrow. "By that, I mean he supplies booze." She took another sip. "Actually, that's Ethan. Grayson won't drink for his life." Kiera must've noticed how uncomfortable I was with the red solo cups everywhere in sight because she added, "Looks you're the same way."

I shrugged. "I've never been much of a drinker." Beer tasted like dog piss to me, I didn't want to drink anymore of that then I had to.

Kiera raised her bootle to me. "Good for you. But here." She reached inside the cooler again and came out with a beer in her hand. I was afraid she was going to chug both. Instead she handed it to me. I opened my mouth to protest but she cut me off. "You don't have to drink it. Just hold it. If you don't, some wierdo will come up and offer you one."

I graciously accepted Kiera's gift. I decided to try one sip. I spit it out in disgust. Kiera laughed. "Tastes that bad, huh?"

"Bad? It's repulsive!"

This made her laugh harder. "Yeah, I agree."

I stared at her in bewilderment. "Then why do you drink it?"

Kiera's sad eyes meet mine and she didn't hesitate with her answer. "It helps me forget." With that, she threw back the last of her beer and grabbed another. She sloppily added one more tally to her arm.

 

Grayson

I didn't go to the party Friday night. Ellie and Jason would be there. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was that they would be there together.

When Ellie had told me she didn't want a boyfriend, maybe it meant she didn't want me as one. But that didn't mean she didn't want Jason as one.

I came home Friday night and threw my keys on the kitchen counter. "Hey mom! I'm home!" My voice echoed through the empty house. Where was she? I walked around the island and found a note.