Moonless Night

Chapter 4

  The first week of school passed by without incident. Classes were a breeze, including the one that Evan did not attend with me. I made no more new friends, though, besides the ones at lunch. I didn't really care to. I forgot all about the Kurans and the strange way they bugged me. Especially the seventh. I refused to even think his name. He didn't do anything wrong, per se, but the way he acted sometimes just really ticked me off.

  Like when I stand close to him, but still a respectable distance, he subtly moves away, or he just out right turns away from me abruptly, almost in disgust.

  I started to ignore his existence completely after the second time he did it.

  Getting back on topic, it's already Saturday and Evan and I are preparing before our pick up arrives in the form of Jackson in his minivan.

  "Stella!" Evan called from downstairs.

  I picked up my bag and ran down the stairs, nearly tripping over a black cord that ran over the bottom step. I scowled as I landed softly from my brief flight. "What?"

  "You ready?"

  I looked at him. "Are you ready?"

  At this moment, Evan stood in the middle of living room in nothing but a pair of dark shorts. He was showing a lot of skin, not that I wasn't already used to it. Evan tended to walk around the house in nothing but a towel after a shower, and didn't care who saw him. Including me. He lacked quite a bit of modesty.

  "Yeah," he mumbled. "But I think I'll go put on some pants."

  Less than a minute later, Jackson was honking his horn outside. Evan came running out of his room with a T-shirt and unbuttoned pants on.

  "Coming!" He yelled out the front door.

  If we were in LA, I would've told him he was bothering the neighbors, but here our nearest neighbors are over a mile away.

  I walked out to the minivan and got in beside Jesse. Now she was sandwiched between me and Sam, and didn't seem to mind. Oh, that's right. She likes Sam. I recalled the muttered confession she had no idea I heard.

  Evan hopped into the backseat, fully dressed, in front of me beside Jonathan, who pointedly looked out the window, away from Sam and Jesse. Sara tries to talk to him but he ignores her.

  "We can go now." Megan said to Jackson. She was sitting in the front seat, as expected of his girlfriend. I only noticed they were together the day before, and decided they were cute together.

  "How long does it take to get to the beach?" I asked gazing out the window.

  "Not long," Evan answered, hyped up. "Only thirty minutes from here."

  He looked more excited than I'd ever seen him and it made me really curious. It seemed like he was anticipating something amazing happening.

  "What's with you?" I asked when his eyes got even brighter for no apparent reason.

  "You wouldn't understand even if I told you." Evan said. "But I'll tell you anyway. We're going the beach on the edge of the border."

  A feel of déjà vu went through me. "Where?"

  Evan flashed me a huge grin. "In Curoche."

  Like he said, I had no idea what he meant, but then something clicked.

  "In Curoche?" I asked, leaning forward unconsciously. "Really?"

  "Yeah." Evan frowned slightly. "Do you know it?"