~*~Brian’s point of view~*~
I went back to my room. Nick was there, watching TV. I slammed the door shut behind me.
“What’s wrong with you?” Nick wondered.
“Nothing…” I went to my bed and grabbed my old guitar, strumming some chords. Frustrated when I didn’t play it right, I threw it back down on the bed.
“Nothing, huh?” Nick looked at me, concerned. “Where have you been tonight, anyway?”
“August and I went to see a movie.”
“Did things not go well?”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Well? What happened?”
“I’m not sure exactly.” I was more confused than anything. “I asked her to go to that party thing tomorrow… cuz I figured that everyone else had someone to go with…”
“And she said no?” he looked surprised. I nodded. “Is she going with someone else?”
“No. She said I was lying,” I started, then sighed. “See, I had told her this morning that you and Carmen wanted me to go to the movies with you tonight…”
“Huh? We weren’t planning… oh, I get it,” Nick said.
“Yeah… well, apparently Carmen told her that you guys didn’t have that planned. So she knew I was lying. Then she asked why. So this time I tried the truth! Lotta good that did me.”
“So she thought you were lying about that, too?”
“Yeah. And she called me a two-timer or something,” I scratched my head. “I never thought August would storm off or anything.”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should try and talk to her tomorrow.”
I nodded.
~*~August’s point of view~*~
“I know! Can you believe it?” I asked Carmen the next morning. I was drumming on the table with the silverware.
“Wow. I never pegged Brian for the lying type of guy,” she said.
We were sitting and eating breakfast the next morning.
“Me neither…”
“It doesn’t make sense,” we both said at the same time.
I laughed.
“We’re already starting to think alike. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding.”
“I hope so. I guess I shouldn’t have walked away, I was just mad. But Cassie said he asked her already, so it wasn’t right for him to ask me, too… and I guess I was just jealous.”
“What if he didn’t ask Cassie?” Carmen suggested.
“Huh? But he did.”
“She says he did. But you’ve told me before that you thought she liked him.”
“I know. That’s why she’d say yes if he asked her…”
“Or maybe she’s just jealous of you.”
“Ha. Yeah. A girl like her, jealous of me?”
Carmen nodded. “Duh! What do you mean ‘a girl like her?’”
“Tall. Blonde. Gorgeous. Lots of boyfriends. Flirt,” I started listing things off.
“Full of herself? And maybe Brian isn’t interested in ‘a girl like her.’”
“Well, why would Cassie lie? I mean, if he didn’t ask her, then we’d all find out by tonight and she’d get caught in the act.”
Carmen thought a moment. “Well, maybe she figures she can get him to ask her. And that it’ll get you out of the way.”
We arrived at the pool. It wasn’t too crowded, being so early in the morning.
“We can’t stay long,” Carmen reminded me. “We’ve gotta get on one of the ferry’s to Castaway Cay.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can’t wait to get there. Then we can spend the rest of the day at the beach.”
“I’m glad it’s sunny. The weather channel this morning said it was supposed to rain.”
“Ugh, I hope it doesn’t. That would ruin tonight,” I said.
“Say cheese,” we heard. Snap.
“You really need to give us more warning than that,” I complained.
Michelle laughed. “Some of the best pictures in the world are candid.”
“And the same goes for some of the worst,” Carmen added.
Michelle dropped her stuff next to us on a chair. “Are you guys getting in or what?”
Carmen and I followed her into the pool. “Where’s Cassie?” I asked, still thinking of Carmen’s and my conversation.
Michelle shrugged. “I don’t know. She wasn’t there when I got up this morning. I found a note from her when I woke up that just said she went out and would be back later.”
“How descriptive,” Carmen laughed.
“When are you hooking up with Nick?” Michelle asked.
Carmen shrugged. “He’s gonna call my cell phone. Should be any time.”
“Have you seen Brian today?” I asked.
“Nope, sorry,” Michelle shook her head.
“So when’s Cassie getting with Brian today?” Carmen asked, suspiciously.
Michelle shrugged. “To be honest, I hadn’t heard anything about them going until you did.”
Cassie shot me a meaningful look.
“I was surprised she hadn’t already told me. But good for them, I’m sure she was really excited about it. She really likes him and everything. Sorry August,” she added.
“Oh, that’s okay,” I said.
Was Carmen right? Had Cassie lied? Michelle looked sincere in everything she was saying, and she was Cassie’s best friend. If Cassie was up to something, wouldn’t Michelle be the first one to know about it?
Chapter Eight
Chapter Ten
Drowning
Frick's Fairytales