CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 1
sunlight shone brightly through the open window, and a cool san francisco breeze blew into the small room, clothes lay strewn across the bed as acacia taylor hurriedly shoved items into an empty suitcase.
her friend, tatum hunter, sat on the other side of the room, sprawled across a black leather beanbag chair. tatum let out a frustrated sigh as she shot up to a sitting position, looking at acacia.
"do you have to leave so soon?" tatum asked, trying not to sound as if she were whining.
acacia could not help rolling her eyes. she and her family went on vacation to half moon bay, california, every summer, and this year was no exception. she did not understand why tatum was making such a big deal of it this time. "i told you, tatum. my mom refuses to wait any longer," acacia replied.
"but you're gonna miss my soccer tournament. it's states!" tatum knew that she was being selfish. she also knew that she would probaby never have another opportunity to play in a statewide soccer championship, and she wanted as many people to be there for her as possible. it did not help that even her boyfriend would be absent at the event.
acacia's eyes widened as if she were stricken with realization. "oh, that's right! now i feel horrible! but my mom's already mad because my dad made her wait a week and a half. you know how she likes to leave, like, the day i get out of school for the summer."
tatum groaned inwardly. "yeah, i know. i'm just mad. i mean, even toran's gonna miss my game."
"oh, darn that," acacia commented drily.
tatum rolled her eyes. acacia had expressed a strong dislike for tatum's boyfriend, toran blake, since the beginning of their sophomore year, and it often annoyed tatum.
"well, cyrus isn't exactly the best person in the world, but i keep my opinions about him to myself," tatum shot back.
acacia shrugged. "i know you do. but you and he are also friends, so you don't have many bad opinions about him to begin with."
"that's true. my only problem with him is that he can be really conceited."
acacia laughed. her boyfriend, cyrus deitrick, did have his moments of arrogance, and tatum was usually the first person to call him on his pretentions.
"i'll give you that, tatum. but he's nowhere near as bad as toran."
tatum scowled. "whatever." her gaze shifted to the clock on the wall above acacia's stereo system. "anyway, i should go and leave you to your packing now." she did not hide the fact that she was still a little bitter about acacia's leaving.
"okay. i'm still really sorry that i'll miss your game, but i'll call to see how it went." she offered a sympathetic smile for effect.
"thanks. at least that will help a little. i'll see ya later."
"bye."
tatum reluctantly walked out of the room, and acacia turned back to her half-full suitcase. she hesitantly started throwing more clothes into it. a few minutes later, she had closed the suitcase and laid it on the floor with the rest of her luggage.
she collapsed onto her canopy bed and stared sadly at the floor. she had grown accustomed to the annual trip to half moon bay, and she was looking forward to spending time by the ocean in her family's beach house. she was not, however, happy to be leaving her boyfriend and most of her friends behind for the next two and a half months.
she was startled out of her thoughts by a cheerful "hey!", and she turned around to see her best friend, gemini avery, walking into the room.
"hello," acacia replied, her mood lifting considerably. she was happy that gemini would be going with her this summer. cyrus was supposed to go, but neither his nor acacia's parents had thought that it would be a very good idea. so acacia had decided to invite gemini, and the two girls had spent a week, making plans and talking about perfecting their surfing skills.
"did you finish packing?" gemini asked, noticing the pile of bags at acacia's feet.
acacia nodded. "yeah. did you?"
"right before i drove over here." both girls laughed.
acacia stood. "well, now that you're here, i wanted to run something by you. i was thinking that since we're leaving first thing in the morning, we could call cyrus and tristan and hang out with them for the night." her hopeful brown eyes implored gemini's face for a sign of agreement, and gemini knew how important it was for her friend to see cyrus before they left. but she could not help feeling slightly dejected.
"um... what exactly do you expect tristan and i to do while you and cyrus are hanging out?" gemini asked, sighing.
acacia appeared confused; she had thought that gemini would be excited to have tristan visit for a while. "what do you mean?"
"well, cyrus is your boyfriend. tristan is just my really good friend. we don't exactly have the same kind of thing going that you and cyrus have."
acacia laughed, shrugging. "i just thought that you would want to see tristan before you left. i mean, he is, like, your closest friend after me," she added a charismatic smile for emphasis and continued, "and you two spend tons of time together. don't you want to be able to say good-bye to him?"
gemini thought for a moment. she did want to see her friend, tristan prescott, before leaving. she knew that she would miss him terribly because he was the only person who she felt comfortable enough around to talk about anything and seek advice. "yeah, i do. let's go call him and cyrus."
after gemini and acacia had eaten dinner that night, cyrus and tristan arrived to hang out for a few hours.
"hi, you two," acacia greeted them when they stepped into the taylors' foyer.
"hey," they answered in unison.
gemini soon joined them in the living room, and the four of them walked out to acacia's back patio. acacia and cyrus made themselves comfortable at the edge of the family's in-ground swimming pool, while gemini and tristan took seats in two lounge chairs.
"so are you looking forward to going with acacia tomorrow?" tristan asked gemini.
gemini sighed. "yeah, i guess. i mean, i'll be living in a beach house right next to the ocean. i'll get to surf, like, everyday!" she laughed then grew more seriuos. "but i'm gonna miss hanging out with you and my other friends."
chapter 2
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