Find a Penny, Pick Her Up

Chapter 13

The car ride was quiet. I sat in the passenger's seat, bouquet of daises laying on my lap as I stared out the window. Port Royal whizzed by, with the sun shining high in the sky and kids running to the beach to try and get some tanning in before it got colder. October would be there soon, with the familiar bite of chill that would surely come. 

"What are you being for Halloween?" 

I looked over to him, startled by the sudden shift from silence. "Halloween?" I hadn't thought of Halloween costumes in. . .a year? Yeah. A year. I shifted, swallowing. A year didn't seem like a long time, but now that I didn't have a huge fan club, Halloween didn't really register in being on the table for me. 

"Yeah," he said, pulling into a sandy parking lot. The ground crunched loudly against the tires. "A lot of girls have been talking about it."

"Annie?" 

"How'd you know?" he asked, seeming surprised in my guessing skills. 

I shrugged. If only he knew. Halloween was Annie's favorite holiday; she'd start planning our outfits months in advance. "Wild guess." 

"What's the deal with you two, anyway?" 

I swallowed, looking away. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," he said, pulling the car into park, "That you seem to have some type of. . .feud, going on."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Feud?" 

"Yes, feud," he emphasized. Hampton looked at me, his eyes locking in on mine. "Care to explain?" 

I took a breath, shrugging and trying to appear nonchalant. "We used to be friends." Best friends. The best of friends. But even when the thought passed, I wondered if she felt the same as I did. If she valued me as much as I valued her. 

He just nodded, accepting my answer. "Ready to picnic?" I opened my door, stepping onto the gravel and sand. The crunch of both Hampton and I's feet were comforting, filling the air around us and competing with the noise of the shore's waves lapping against the sand. He pulled out the bag of food, and I followed him to where the gravel met the sand. 

"Do you want to walk and eat, or sit?" he looked over at me, raising an eyebrow and holding up the bag of goods. I took a quick glance to our surroundings, knowing it would look worse if someone saw Port Royal's newcomer having a sit-down lunch with the most hated.

"Walk?" I suggested, and we started down the beach. He pulled my sandwich out of the bag, handing it to me. I unwrapped the paper, taking a bite and looking out over the water. How did I find myself in this situation? 

"Do you miss New York?" I asked, surprising myself. It's not like I cared, really. I just wanted to alleviate the silence. We bent down to untie our shoes, slipping them off and dangling them in our hands.

"Yeah," he said, "I do. I grew up with all my friends there, so mostly it's them I miss." I nodded along like I understood, but really I didn't. I'd never moved...but I had lost all my friends. I shook my head, reminding myself that it wasn't the same. 

I took a bite, munching and swallowing before saying, "It must be hard to leave senior year." I looked at him, curious to see his reaction. He didn't say anything for a good beat, and I wondered the reason for why he did. He and his family just packed up and left? Hardly. My curiosity tipped me further down the path of questioning, and I couldn't help myself. 

"Do you have any siblings?" I asked. I didn't know why, but I half-expected him to lie. I expected him to pause and make up a quick reason; was that because I had become so accustomed to lying myself? That I couldn't possibly imagine anyone else being truthful?