1 Beach Day

TW: Abuse

It was the beginning of June 2020, where summer vacation has just begun. It was a lovely summer indeed and since school is out, anyone is free to do anything, mostly. All the children were outside playing with their friends, stumbling in the grass, laughing, smiling, giggling, and some have extravagant pool parties or trips to the beach where they get the perfect shade of tan that they desire, and some, well, they just sleep. With the weather at the perfect temperature, mixed between hot and cold, the weather was just divine.

The buzzing noise of her phone woke Hailey up, and although the brown-haired girl has slept enough she still looked tired, she was never a morning person. She picked up the phone and checked the caller id to know who was calling her. On the screen it appears the name 'Cassie', her best friend was calling her. She thought aloud while mumbling the words, "Why is she calling me so early?" then proceeds to look at the date and time. Her eyes widened from shock and her messy hair was then tied back and put to a bun "It's Friday?! And it's 8 already?! Oh no! I totally forgot." She answered her phone and put it on speaker so she can listen to it while she was getting dressed. From the phone yelled a voice, "Hales, are you still sleeping? Come on, I've been ringing you seven times already. We're already outside your house, I'm saving you a seat next to Jared." Then heard a beep indicating that the call has been ended. Hailey begins to wonder as to why she agreed to go to the beach so early in the morning with her friends.

As soon as Hailey finished putting on her clothes she went downstairs as quickly as possible while dangling her bag onto her shoulder. The loud noise that she created attracted her mother that was making breakfast in the kitchen at that time. "Leaving already?" she asked while pouring the scrambled eggs from the pan to the plate with some toast and butter. "Hmm, mom it smells so good," she stopped to inhale the delicious smell that was covering the air around her. "But yeah, so I'll have to just quickly eat this and go. Thanks for the breakfast mom!" she downed all of the food that was on the plate to her stomach in merely a minute which left her mom stunned.

"Here, drink some water to make sure you won't choke."

"Thanks, mom, I got to go, bye! Love you!"

As she was about to leave, her mother hugged her then kissed her then said "Love you too, be safe, honey." Hailey hugged her mom back tightly and just smiled. She felt safe and comfortable in her mother's arms, her once rapidly beating heart because of the adrenaline had started to soothe down. After only a few seconds, a honk of a car that was coming from outside of their house, made them break from their embrace of one another. So then after getting startled, Hailey continued to walk out of the front door and said farewell once more before finally stepping into a red convertible that had three of her friends in it.

As soon as they drove off, Cassie joked "Took you long enough."All Hailey did was roll her eyes in response to her friend. "Thanks for waiting for me, I almost forgot about today."

"No big deal, we're just glad now that we can finally go to the beach together," said Tyler, a boy with blonde hair who was driving the convertible. Besides him, sat Cassandra or Cassie for short who promised to save her seat next to Jared who was also their close friend and had recently developed feelings for Hailey. Cassie always told her that it'll be good for Hailey if she got a boyfriend, that way she can have a partner that will support her and be with her in her journey to reach her dream, so Cassie jumped at the moment she found out someone they knew close with had a crush on her to set them up.

Even if Jared was a nice and caring guy, Hailey still wasn't ready in having a boyfriend. She still had her traumas to face. She only ever told one person about her traumas, and that was Cassie, and she hadn't yet told anyone other than her and as an excuse for when they were curious, she simply said that she wanted to focus on her studies. Truth be told, she wasn't lying, her dream was to become a doctor. She was always so fascinated by the human body, she dreamed of going to Jahnsens one day, the best medical school in their city. She had been saving up on money and she was just waiting for an entrance examination to be held. She then also came to the thought that being in a relationship would only jeopardize her chances of becoming one. Too much drama.

"Hi Hailey, how are you?" the boy that sat next to her greeted. "Hey Jared, I'm fine thank you.", and the whole ride was awkward. Ever since, Jared told Tyler that told Cassie that told Hailey that he liked her, every second they spent alone was awkward despite them being friends since junior high.

Even with the awkwardness that was going on, Hailey still managed to zone out somewhere in the middle of the ride. Her eyes wandered around the environment that they were passing by. She looked around her and watched as the sun shone its light to every surface of the road as well as on top of the vehicle which makes the red pigment from the car glistened. She felt the warmth of the sun's rays touched her skin and made her body warm, she then grabbed her sun hat from inside her bag and puts it on as it was getting way too hot for her.

The warm wind hits their faces which made their hair flow in the same direction as to where the wind was headed. She looked over to Cassie who was wearing a scarf around her head and sunglasses too to help with the light the sun was projecting. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Her luscious curls flow in the wind as the sunlight made her blonde strands of hair visible in the bush of brown hairs. Tyler who was sitting beside her and in front of Hailey was concentrating on the endless road ahead with nothing but sand around, had also put on his favorite shade. His golden medium-length hair that had been slicked back messily, now messier because the wind had ruined it. Music that was blasting off the radio was played by Cassie who had organized a playlist especially for them all to hear on the way to the beach, there was a really catchy song playing, even with Tyler focusing on the road, the song managed to make his head move to the beat of it. Even with the loud sound coming from the radio, Jared still managed to get some shut-eye. He had taken his cap that he brought along with him to the trip and covered his face with it.

As Hailey was daydreaming some more, Cassie was opening a bag of Takis that she had brought with her in her bag, it was her all-time favorite snack.

"Anyone wants some?" she offered her friends. Tyler refused because he was focusing on the road and didn't really like spicy foods, Jared was asleep and the only person who wasn't bothered by anything at that moment was Hailey - who instantly snapped back to reality when Cassie turned to specifically offer her.

"No thanks, I just ate. Also, how can you stand the spiciness of that thing? Does your taste buds not work at all?" Hailey asked in confusion to the Latin African-American girl, known as her best friend.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she poured hot sauce on her Takis then ate it, Hailey was terrified by her friend not having any reaction to the spicy snack that she was eating. "It's not spicy," Cassie said with a confused look on her face while she crunched on her takis.

"Wha-" she said with her face more confused as ever before being interrupted by Tyler.

"Save it, Hales. She won't understand what you're saying. I still wonder 'till this day, if she ever had diarrhea after eating those. " Tyler said while shaking her head.

She paused for a bit before teasing him, "Well you're her boyfriend, shouldn't you know better?" her words kind of offended him in a way that made him offend her back.

"Hey! You knew her longer, ms. BEST FRIEND." Tyler kept up with her act, not wanting to lose in their argument.

As they were arguing in the background, Cassie opened her phone when suddenly a headline from the news caught her interest. "Hey guys, check this out, it says that there is a new museum opening near the beach that we're heading to!" Cassie interrupted them.

"So?" Tyler asked without hinting at a slight interest in what she was saying because of how she had cut the argument he was just having with Hailey - which made him lose to her. Cassie looked at him with an annoyed look on her face as she taught that he should know that she was crazy interested in history because he was obviously her boyfriend and that they have been together for almost 2 years - since the end of all of their freshman year together.

"So?! What do you mean so? You've been my boyfriend for two years now, and all you can say is so?!" Cassie snapped back at him. "Hey, okay, calm down woman. Are you on your period?" he exclaimed in a snarky way.

"OH, just because I got suddenly mad at you I'm instantly on my period?"

"No, I'm sorry ma'am that was my fault, I should have never joked around like that."

"You better, now as I was saying a new museum is opening and who wants to come with me?" Cassie said with excitement on her face.

No one answered because Tyler was still scared of her from the moment before that. Hailey doesn't really like museums and Jared was still sleeping and so Cassie's bright smile turned into a frown then began to be furious again. "No one?! You guys are such great friends, really. NOW, you're all coming with me whether you like it or not! I am going to ask one more time and you are all going to say yes. Okay so, who wants to come with me?" she gave them all her infamous death stare.

In an instant everybody agreed to come because of how terrifying Cassie could be if they did not agree with her, even Jared who apparently had been thought was sleeping, heard her ultimatum and woke up instantaneously and agreed to come as well. With the agreement that she made her friends agree to, she was satisfied then turned herself back to her seat and began to browse about the location and details as to where and what the museum holds. Her eyes were beaming with joy.

Even though Cassie could very persuasive at times, Hailey, Jared, and Tyler found that trait from Cassie one of a kind and hilarious. As Hailey smiled as she saw her friend's eyes beaming with happiness, she looked to her right and saw that they were already close to their destination point. She saw the coastline from where the road they were driving on, it was stunning.

The ocean was in a beautiful gradient color of blue, varied from turquoise - which was near the shore, and dark blue - which was the color of the water farther than the shore. The waves crashed to the shore as people were playing volleyball, some were surfing, others were tanning, and children were playing with the sand. There were barely any clouds up there and the sun was at the right position, right at the center of the wide blue yonder. The beach was filled with people but that wouldn't stop them from having fun, it was summer vacation anyways.

They entered the beach area with a surfboard and all of their stuff ready. The girls were going to change in the restrooms while the boys just took off their tops and waited for them outside. Hailey and Cassie didn't take long in there because all that they needed to do was take their clothes off which they had already put their bikinis on beneath their clothes and applied sunscreen to their faces. As soon as the girls came out, Tyler instantly sprinted to the ocean as he could not wait any longer and that he had been waiting to surf again since last year. Cassie, his girlfriend, of course, ran after him screaming at him to let her put sunscreen on him first.

"Tyler! Come back here! You haven't put on sunscreen! Remember what happened last summer?!". Hailey and Jared giggled at their friend's action because not only did it attracted quite a lot of attention from the people that went past them but also what happened to Tyler last summer where he got sunburned and looked like a crab. So now Hailey came to the realization that she was now left alone with Jared, and things could not be more awkward. "So," Jared started but it ended it a long pause before starting again.

"You want to play volley?" Jared asked Hailey to break the silence.

"Yeah sure, wouldn't we want to wait for Tyler and Cassie too?"

"Of course, if you want to, or we could just ask someone random to join in our game in the meantime?"

"Yeah, sure."

So they started to split in search of some people who would be interested in playing with them. Even after a few minutes of wandering the beach from end to end, asking strangers if they were willing to participate in their game, no one is available, all of them were either busy with tanning, playing with their own group of friends, or surfing. With no luck, they finally decided to just find a place to set up their stuff before there were no more rooms for them to occupy. After they set up the beach umbrella, chair, and blankets and finally settle in with their stuff, they sat down, and everything became quiet again.

After a few awkward and speechless minutes, Hailey's had enough. "Okay, what happened to us? Why are we so awkward around each other?" she spoke.

"I'm sorry Hailey. I never meant to make everything weird between us. I guess me liking you wasn't a smart move. After all, all I did was ruined our friendship and make you mad." Jared apologize.

"Hey, don't be sorry and I'm not mad, why would I be? You can't control who you like, and I can't control who I like either. I'm just being ridiculous if I'm mad at someone who is interested in me."

"It's just that we all know you don't want a partner and the only way for me to not flirt with you and make you uncomfortable is to distance myself from you. You are an awesome and amazing girl so it would be hard for me to not fight for your love, well at least try."

Jared's voice became slower and slower as each sentence went near the end, it was almost inaudible. He had now realized what he had blurted out of his mouth to his crush. As much as Hailey wasn't looking for a lover, she was astonished by his kind words and thoughts for and about her.

She was young and beautiful and of course, people would ask from time to time if she has had a boyfriend yet and got hit on by boys, of course, she would be uninterested and back away as soon as possible because her mind was set on the horrible impression of guys that her father had left imprinted on her head, but, only for a split second Jared's words really touched her heart and made her doubt her thoughts in guys.

She hadn't had the best relationship with her father and saying that is quite an understatement. As a child, she and her mother were physically abused by her father. Hailey couldn't do anything to help her mom because she was at that time about 3 or 4 years old, all she did was cry while watching the horrid scenery unfold in front of her, she couldn't do anything to help her, she was unable to. Despite her being that young, she remembered every single thing that went down on that day, it was just too painful to simply forget. Her mother's screams and cries, ringing in her ear every time silence washed over, she dreaded the sound of that and she wished to never hear that ever again.

That goes on until she was 8, where she was capable enough in confronting her father to the police, but her father just slapped her and grabbed her by the neck before she could dial the number, she had still remembered herself chocking, lacking air as she was ready to face her end, her feet were already so high up from the ground before she found herself falling to the ground when she glimpsed at a shoe that had been thrown to her father's face by her mother. Her marks were thankfully gone but the feeling of his grip on her skin was permanent. Even after her father had left her and her mom and didn't come back, those moments of her father had far molded to now her trauma.

Cassie had helped Hailey a lot in her breakdowns, where her memories suddenly reappear in public out of nowhere or every time a guy won't stop bothering her, getting too close to her, and even to the point they would start touching her. She would often try to help Hailey realize that not all guys are bad like her father and that if they truly love you, they would never even think to harm you. She never knew her father's whereabouts and condition after he had left them, and quite frankly she didn't care, she didn't care about what was happening with the man that had brought her and her mother so much pain, and if she could, she wished he was dead.

But she couldn't, her big and caring heart wouldn't allow her to, she believed that all bad people were not born, they were created, created by this world, something or someone had influenced her father that made him the man that he now had become. She didn't blame him, she felt sorry for him, because of his own conflicts and failure in getting help and getting better.

She and her mother had gone to therapy several times in the past and were getting much better, but even with therapy, she still couldn't break down that one wall of defense that she had built up so high, it was the only thing that frightened her most. For a long time she succeed in convincing everyone, including herself that she didn't need love, she wouldn't have the 'time' for it. But actually, she was just really scared, she wanted to get over it but she can't, she wouldn't, she was afraid to have to experience it all again, all but with a different man, that it's going to be her in her mother's position, the thought of that almost made her cry. Cassie had advised her a few times before and it really made a big effect on her, "Hales, I know this is hard for you, but try to see this from a different perspective, you'll never know until you try. Love can be hard but if you found that special someone one day, which I know you will, you'll realize that love is the most beautiful thing in the world."

So when Jared said that to her with such sincerity in his voice, she was taken aback. She had never heard anyone said something like that to her, more or less because she often refused to hear them out but she doubted their intentions.

Again comes the deafening silence between the two, but as Hailey was about to open her mouth to change the topic, Jared has allowed himself to do so.

"So we're good?" Jared made sure once more.

"We were never on a bad term, what we had is special, you're a great friend to me. But, I should be the one who's apologizing. I'm sorry I made this hard for you, I'm just not really looking for someone, you're a really nice person and I'm sure any girl is lucky to have you as her partner but I'm afraid that girl won't be me. I'm really sorry I can't return your feelings. "

"It's okay Hailey, thank you for telling me the truth, I'll respect your wishes"

"Thank you for understanding," Hailey thanked him but just to made sure they were on the same page she asked him "But we're still friends right?"

"Of course, Hales. I'll try to set my boundaries"

As much as she missed him saying that adorable little nickname that he gave her after a few weeks of their first conversation as well as encounter. Hailey couldn't help but wander back to Jared's declaration of his feelings for her. That thought quickly banished as soon as they heard a voice calling for them. They knew the voice all too well, it was Cassie's.

"So, what are you two guys up to?"

"Nothing much, we were just waiting for you guys to play some volley, " Jared explained. "Speaking of volley, are you guys finished with surfing?"

"Totally, those waves were gnarly, dude." All of a sudden, before Cassie could even get a word out of her mouth, Tyler interrupted from behind Cassie and imitate what a surfer boy would say and throw a shaka, all they did was laugh at their friend's sudden change of personality.

"But I thought you said you still wanted to do it a few more times?" Cassie questioned Tyler.

"Nah, I had enough. It was fun, besides I rather spend my time with you guys. Also, it was getting pretty crowded there, there were all up on my space, "

The three of them were now looking at him with such admiration until he got pretty uncomfortable and changed the topic. "Uh...come on! You said you wanted to play volley!"

All of them hurried and grabbed the ball which was inside the basket that was placed beside the beach chair they brought and had set up then hurried up to Tyler. After around 30 minutes of playing volley, they swam for a little bit, played around with the ocean water, and Jared - who drank most of the salty water because Tyler - who didn't know what to do with the crab that had pinched Jared's hair except to grab a bucket and keep pouring water onto Jared's hair that had the crab was grabbing onto, in hopes that the pressure of the water would make the crab let his hair go, and the girls who did nothing to help him at first but instead, just standing still, watching and laughing. Hailey and Cassie did catch a couple of guy's attention, as Cassie told them off by telling them that she had a boyfriend and Hailey uncomfortably and awkwardly looking back at Cassie who gave her a thumbs up at her to go for it and she, who obviously declined every single guy that came up to her. After soaking their body in the ocean water, they all went back to their spot and tanned for a while. Cassie opened the picnic box that she had prepared snacks for her friends in case they got hungry, which they did.

"Hey... Cass, I think you should chill out with the salt." Jared complained as her sandwich was too salty for his liking.

"Uh, I think it's not from her sandwich," Hailey said as she too was eating the same sandwich as he was.

"Oh," Jared said with no tone and a blank expression which made his friends cackled while thinking back from when Tyler didn't stop showering him with the ocean water.

Since it was summer and they were at the beach, the weather was hot and luckily, Cassie brought her cooler that had cool drinks in store. They were all glad that one of them was beyond prepare for anything and everything that they might need.