Chapter 2

            By the time I get home, my heart is thumping faster than ever before. I can’t get his image out of my head. His chocolate brown hair, his almost black eyes, his body structure. Oh how he seems to be so perfect. The way he looked at me and made me smile is one thing but the way he said my name is another. Why am I dwelling so much on something that hasn’t even become a friendship?

            I enter through the front door, the now-painted-blue walls widen my eyes. No more plain- like-school-white anymore. The sun now hits the newly painted walls just right, giving it a shine of baby-blue.

            “Giselle?” My mother calls from the kitchen. I thought she would know by now that I am the only one that gets home around 2:30.

            “Yes.” I call back. The smell of new painted rushes up my nose, sending me into a sneeze attack.

            “Hayden called. He wanted me to tell you to call him back as soon as you could.” I could hear the smile spring on her face. I walk closer to the kitchen and see her. Her bleach blonde hair is pulled back into a pony-tail and she is wearing a baby-blue T-shirt, seeing how it matches so perfectly to the walls and she is wearing white overalls on top of it all.  It makes her look seventeen again.

            “Okay mom, thanks.” I say and walk slowly to my room, opening the door ever so slightly and entering. I see my room is one thing that I like that stayed the same. I drop my book bag to the floor and bounce on top of my bed. The soft comfy island stays there under me as I think of things Hayden may want to talk about. I pick up the phone and dial.

            “Hello?” I hear a guy voice on the other end.

            “Hello, Hayden?”

            “Yep?”
           
            “You called?”

            “Yep.”

            “What for?”

            Silence stays there for a while, almost making me laugh. He has been acting so secretive. I can almost imagine him just sitting there with the phone pressed against his ear, thinking up some lie.

            “What for?” I repeat, now with a bit of an attitude.

            “Nothing.”

            “You know Hayden; I don’t have time for your stupid little games.”

            Just then I hear the dial tone. He hung up on me, how could he. But I’m not going to waste my time thinking about what a jerk he has been to me. No. I think I’ll work on my algebra homework.  I opened my book and smell comes out. It smells like school, and I laugh at the fact that it smells like school and that school has a smell. I begin to do my homework again until the phone rings.

            “Hello?”

            Silence takes over but all I can hear is the other person breathing.

            “Hello?” I repeated again. “Is anyone there?”

            Again the silence overtakes the conversation, like we were having one, but the fact that this person has decided to be so cryptic about calling me gets on my nerves.

            “Hello?” I ask once more knowing that if no one answers, I will hang up.

            After hearing a minute of just breathing, I hang up. I don’t want to deal with pranksters at the moment. So I continue my algebra homework. I continue to look at examples to make sure I understand this correctly. I check the back of the book to see if I’m getting it right, and I am.

            When I finish my homework, I check the time. 3:30. not even close to night yet. I decide to call Daisy. I wonder if she knows what is wrong with Hayden.

            When I call her, I get her voicemail, which isn’t good because now that means I have to be bored for hours. I go to the bathroom but when I enter I notice myself in the mirror. I look so tired; I look as if I didn’t get enough sleep. My dark brownish hair is almost waist long, and my eyes are a very light brown. Opposite of Bryce. I wonder if he has noticed that.

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            “Dinner time.” Mom calls again from the kitchen. My dad rushes because tonight is steak night. Laney skips down the stairs because she just passed college. I’m setting up the table for the four of us.

            Mom sits down, her hair now down and her eyes so sparkly. Laney sits down beside her with her blonde hair too. Her eyes a light green color which is odd because no one in my family as green eyes. Dad sits with his short black hair growing out a little but still, his eyes light brown like mine.

            “What’s for dinner?” Dad asks, already knowing but making small talk.

            “Steak.” Mom says cheerfully.

            “I got an ‘A’ on my test!” Laney blurts. She smiles a weak smile.

            “Congrats” Mom says. “We’ll celebrate Saturday.”

            “Yea yea.” Dad says, drool coming from his lip. “Can we hurry this dinner up?”

            Mom finally passes out the steaks, Laney continues to talk about college and dad shoves steaks into his mouth. I look down at my little steak, seeing the juiciness on the top of it.

            “Are you okay Giselle?” Mom asks and Laney gives me the evil-eye. I must have ruined her story.

            “Yea, Mom I’m fine.”

            “Okay.”

            I wait out all of dinner. The little stories Laney tells us about her day, the stories dad says about work, and the stories mom says about staying home. No one bothers me to talk. By the time dinner is done my plate is still half full of food.

            “I’m going to the beach.” I tell mom, she smiles at me and lets me go. She doesn’t say much about me going to the beach, she just lets me go.

            I leave the light of my house and walk. The beach isn’t that far from my house, so I decided to walk. The air smells like smoke, like someone had a barbeque and the lights barely light the walkway to the beach. But I get there just in time where the moon is just high enough to see the new waves form.

            I take off my shoes and walk onto the sand; no one is around on the beach. I get just close enough to the waves so they reach my toes. I sit on the sand, with my leg and toes in front of me. I sit with my toes in the sand and I lean my head on my knees. I look out upon the ocean and see the waves form. I close my eyes to let it all in. The hushing sounds of the waves, the sizzling of the waves touching the tips of my toes, the cricket sounds just nearby. I open my eyes and again I see the new waves coming and going.

            I begin to think about how things happen in life and how they happen for a reason. How people come and go in life. How things may hurt but friends are always there. For a split second I think of Daisy, how she has always been with me. I think of Hayden and how now he has changed. I think of my family. I wonder how things form and go just like the waves do. I think how people change, how everything changes.

         I look out onto the waves just once more. After a few minutes I leave, knowing tomorrow will be a better day. I wonder why Hayden really is acting all weird. I hope things will turn out better tomorrow and if they don’t, I’ll always have the waves and the ocean to comfort me.