• tab After a completely uneventful week of sleeping, watching TV, and staring at the ocean from Dahlia’s fourth floor balcony, the dreaded cast finally came off. And yet, as much as she hated it for what it reminded her of, Jenna found herself keeping it. The night before, Jenna had celebrated the Fourth of July. To commemorate the evening, Cassidy had stopped by, and added to her picture, drawing a scene of pure fantasy. By the end of the night, her cast featured two more knights fighting a dragon, elves, fairies, and unicorns. The only reason she brought her home with her was to keep the pictures that Cassidy had drawn so effortlessly.
    tab Feeling bad about how rudely Nathan had treated her, Cassidy would visit everyday at noon to hang with Jenna for an hour or two. By the end of the week, Jenna had learned a lot about her and her two friends. As it turned our, Cassidy’s father and her late mother had constructed the apartment building and lived on the top floor with her stepmother and brothers. Theodore was a talented pianist and worked very hard to take care of his mother. And surprisingly, Nathan was the youngest lifeguard on the beach and was actually a very nice guy once you got passed his rough edges. Somehow Jenna found this last one to be very hard to believe.
    tab Then there was the game. As Cassidy explained it, Fantasia was more than just a place in their imagination, it was the thing that had brought all three of them together and created a bond that could never be broken. In Fantasia, they each took on the role of some character. Cassidy was sorceress, Theodore an elf, and Nathan, a knight. Together they traveled around Fantasia, or their town of White Sands, battling monsters and going on quests.
    tab “I know it sounds a bit childish, but it’s really fun. I wish Nate would let you join in,” she said the day before Jenna got her cast off. At the time, they had been sitting on Jenna’s bed, watching Cassidy draw a map of Fantasia.
    tab “It’s ok,” Jenna said and that was true. She hadn’t expected to make a lot of friends this summer anyway. If she could have had it her way, she would have stayed indoors the entire summer. But Cassidy had other plans.
    tab “Hey tomorrow, after your cast comes off, meet up with us at the boardwalk entrance. I’ll talk to the guys and convince them to let you hang out with us.”
    tab Shaking her head Jenna toyed with her brown hair. “You don’t have to do that; I’ll be fine on my own.”
    tab Standing up Cassidy climbed onto the bed and next to Jenna. “No way, I know what it’s like to be alone, it sucks. And so does everybody else. We were all alone at one point until we met each other. So tomorrow, the boardwalk and don’t forget to wear a swimsuit.”
    tab So here she was, standing awkwardly at the entrance of the boardwalk, wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt with a tank top underneath and shorts while Theodore and Nathan stared angrily back at her.
    tab Running up behind her, Cassidy put an arm around Jenna, “See isn’t it nice to be out in the sun rather then being trapped inside?”
    tab “What is she doing here?” Nathan asked as he walked over to Cassidy. He looked so furious that Jenna felt her legs trembling in fear. Theodore followed behind him, giving her the same expressionless glare that he always gave her.
    tab “I invited her,” Cassidy said matter-of-factly. Taking both their hands, she pulled them towards the beach. “Now quit making a scene, its swimming time.”
    tab The beach was crowded. Everywhere Jenna looked there were people. Some were lounging in lawn chairs sunbathing, while others stood on long lines anxious to buy a cold soda or an ice cream cone. Though the sand was hot, it felt soft on Jenna’s feet after she kicked off her flip-flops. Cassidy led the way until at last she found a clear spot on the sand for them to put their stuff. Walking past her, Theodore purposely walked into her, hitting her shoulder with his elbow, making her nearly lose her balance.
    tab “Off with the sweatshirt Jen,” she ordered happily as she pulled off her tank top revealing a blue one-piece bathing suit.
    “I’m fine like this.”
    tab “Aren’t you hot?”
    tab Theodore pulled out a blanket from his bag and laid it out on the sand.
    tab Shaking her head, Jenna sat down on the blanket and pulled out the book she had brought along with her. “No not really.”
    tab “So you’re not going swimming?”
    tab Hugging her sides, Jenna shook her head again, “I’m not that good,” she admitted.
    tab “Well Nate can teach you, won’t you Nate?”
    tab “No way in hell,” he answered coldly as he sat down besides Jenna. Like her, he wasn’t dressed for swimming either, though instead of a sweatshirt, he wore a white t-shirt and jeans. Together they watched Cassidy and Theodore run into the blue water, laughing and splashing each other. Sighing Jenna closed her eyes. The truth was, she was dying from wearing her sweatshirt.
    tab “So what’s your problem?”
    tab Startled, Jenna opened her eyes and glanced over at Nathan, “I don’t have a problem.”
    tab Looking away, he kicked at the sand. “Figures, a princess like you would say something like that,” he muttered.
    tab “What is that supposed to mean?”
    tab Shrugging his shoulders, he looked over at the water after pulling off his sunglasses. “People like you are perfect. Everything about your life runs the way you want it to. You never have to worry about people humiliating you on a daily basis.”
    tab Feeling her cheeks glow red with anger, Jenna sat up straighter, “I’m not perfect. I have problems just like you,” she sneered.
    tab Raising an eyebrow, Nathan pretended to look surprised, ‘Really? Let me guess, your major problem is when you can’t find something trendy to wear. Trust me I know your type.”
    tab Feeling sweat trickle down her neck, Jenna ran a hand over her forehead, “My type?”
    tab “You’re the type of girl who gets a kick out of pulling pranks and insulting people like us,” Nathan responded by pointing at Theodore and Cassidy. “That’s the game you play, the one where the main goal is to hurt as many people as possible without damaging your precious ego.”
    tab She hated him, hated him for assuming that he knew her when he obviously didn’t.
    tab “I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m not like that,” she snapped. The sweatshirt was killing her now, the heat was unbearable and she was starting to get dizzy.
    tab “…take it off.”
    tab “What?”
    tab Nathan reached forward and grabbed her sweatshirt and started pulling on it. “Your damn face is red and your breathing heavily,” he shot her a glance, “those are signs of heat exhaustion.”
    tab She knew what he was doing; he was only trying to help her. But if felt so similar, so similar to that time…
    tab “Please don’t touch me,” she whispered as his hands slipped under her sweatshirt, accidentally brushing against her skin. “I said don’t touch me,” she said again only louder.
    tab Ignoring her, Nathan kept pulling on it. “It’s for your own good, so just shut up and deal with it.”
    tab His hands were all over her now. Touching her stomach, her sides, and even her chest. Unable to take the heat anymore, she closed her eyes and tried to shove him away.
    tab “Don’t touch me Jason,” she screamed and instantly Nathan’s hands stopped moving.
    tab “What did you just call me?”
    tab Opening her eyes, everything was blurring together. No longer able to focus on Nathan anymore, Jenna felt her eye lids grow heavy before they fluttered closed and she felt herself fall.

    tab When she came to, the first things she heard were the buzzing sounds of lights and the hum of an air conditioner. A second later she realized that she was lying in a rather uncomfortable bed with scratchy sheets placed sloppily on top of her. Sitting up, Jenna folded her arms and noticed that instead of her sweatshirt, she was wearing a lightweight windbreaker that had the lifeguard’s sign on it.
    tab “I was right about the heat exhaustion thing.”
    tab Glancing around the small box shaped room; Jenna was surprised to see Nathan sitting on a chair directly across from her. On his lap was her sweatshirt.
    tab Getting to his feet, he crossed the room until he was standing before her. “You fainted so rather than making a whole big deal out if it, I brought you to the lifeguard’s lounge.”
    tab Jenna was surprised, she’d had thought that he would have left her lying unconscious on the sand. But since she was still angry with him for before, she decided not to say thank-you.
    tab “So who’s Jason? Your perfect Barbie boyfriend?”
    tab So she had called him Jason after all. “No,” she whispered as she avoided his eyes.
    tab Running a hand through his sweat stained hair, Nathan sighed before sitting down besides her. “I have a theory though I think if you heard it, you’ll wish I was wrong.”
    tab “It’s that obvious isn’t it?”
    tab Nathan held up his hand and counted each finger while he spoke. “Number one, you avoid showing any skin expect when necessary. Two, you freaked out when I touched you even though I was just trying to help. And three, you called me Jason in perhaps the least cheerful voice possible.”
    tab Jenna forced a smile, “I told you I had problems,” she said attempting to sound funny even though she wished Nathan would leave so she could be alone.
    tab “Everybody has problems,” he said quietly. “Cass’s brothers steal her artwork and destroy it. Theo works himself to near exhaustion just to keep food on the table-”
    tab “And you?”
    tab “I’m bullied at school. As a graduation present, the football team kidnapped me just so their senior captain could shove me into a locker one last time, but hey? You don’t see either of us three crying about it.”
    tab As bad as their problems were, hers was on a whole different scale. After it had happened, she told her boyfriend and her best friend who both replied the same way, ‘I don’t believe you.’ They walked away from her and for the remaining weeks of school, she sat alone at lunch while the whole school gossiped about her. People started breaking into her locker putting things in it like garbage and even a live mouse. Boys of every grade mocked her and made kissing sounds whenever she walked down the hallways before asking her to join them in their car for a few minutes of ‘fun.’
    tab Right now however, she didn’t feel like talking about it. All she wanted was to slip back under the covers of her bed and sleep the rest of the summer away. But most of all, she just wanted to get away from Nathan and his all knowing green eyes.
    tab “Thank-you Nathan for making me feel better about myself, but I think I’m going to go back to the complex now,” she stood up though her legs still seemed to be asleep and they wobbled as she struggled to find their balance.
    tab Standing up, he tossed her the sweatshirt. “Keep the jacket, it’s better than wearing that thing,” he walked over to a cooler and pulled out an ice-cold bottle of water that he handed to her. “By the way, you can call me Nate now.”