Ocean Blue & You

somewhere, anywhere

"Jack, we need to leave Littleton."

"Yeah I know, remember we said-"

"No. I mean-" I struggled for words. How was I supposed to tell him? It was huge.

"-leave the country," I finished. My heart continued to thump against my chest even though I had caught my breath now as I waited for Jack's reply.

"What?" he muttered after a minute or two of thinking.

"We could go to California, where you live. Just like we said," I babbled, hoping against hope he thought this was a good idea, "remember you said you'd show me the waves and where you live. Now you can!"

"Wait, but why do you want to leave the country?" Jack asked, looking baffled.

"Because-because..." I stuttered.

"Because what?!"

"Because my parents know about us!" I blurted out.

Jack's expression of confusion rapidly shifted to fear.

"How?"

"I think you can guess," I said, "it was Emma's tape. I underestimated how far she would actually take this. But it reached my Mum. And now she knows, and she forbid me of seeing you ever again. I couldn't obey. So I ran upstairs and packed my suitcase. I grabbed my purse. We can take all my money out of my savings. Trust me, I've always been saving but I never knew for what."

"Okay. Then?"

"Then I ran out of the door. I thought of turning back for a split second, but then I realized this was more important. I can't live without you Jack."

He paused for another couple of minutes, soaking up every bit of information I had given him and processing it all in his head. I didn't talk to him because I knew it was huge news. But finally he spoke.

"I understand."

"And?" I asked hopefully.

A short pause.

"I think we should do it."

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, smiling.

"But first, we have to think about the practical things. Like money. How are we supposed to afford two flights to the US?"

"Like I said, I have a surprising amount in my savings. I think it will sort me out. Plus my spending card for when we're there. And I know my Mum's pin number. I know it's cruel but I can transfer some from her bank account over to mine."

"Okay, I have a saver's account too, and a spending card," said Jack, "and my Mum's kept an account for me in case I ever needed to go back to America or choose to live there. You know, to pay for the crucial stuff like the plane and food and accommodation. It's for my little sister too but she's settled in England now. She doesn't want to go back."

"Great!" I exclaimed, glad this was all fitting into place. The rain was still pouring over us but we were oblivious to it at the moment. Then another thought popped into my head.

"Oh! What about accommodation though? Don't we need somewhere to stay?"

"My Dad's. He's never seen you before; he wouldn't know who your family were. Just pretend you're a different person when he's there."

"I can do that!"

"I guess we should go to the airport then?" suggested Jack, stating the obvious. I suddenly became aware again that the cold rain was drenching me. So we briefly went to Jack's place and I hid behind a tree in his front garden outside as he finished packing his suitcase and went out through his back door and went round, after leaving a letter on the table before his Mum and sister, explaining everything truthfully, so they knew exactly why he was going back to America. Then we got a cab to a couple of different stops, before we got to Heathrow and then did various boring things that Mum and Dad would always do when we went abroad to get on a plane. It took a while to get through security and by the time we were finished we had barely any time left until the plane took off. We bought a sandwich from a shop because we both had a grudge against airplane food and then sprinted to the gate so fast the air whipped my face and we had to weave in and out of people taking their time as the speaker announced it was the last boarding call to one of the cities in California that I didn't recognize, near where we were going. We ran through the narrow corridor to the plane and then finally fell into our seats by the window, exhausted from running but relieved we were on the plane.