Chapter 2

I put on shorts and a different tank, with my bathing suit on underneath. I grabbed a towel, and some other stuff, and put it in my bag. Kyle was sitting in the living room, just staring off into space. He wore sandals, swimming trunks, and a short sleeve shirt.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," I went to the closet in the hall, and tossed him a towel.

"You may get wet."

"I'll take your word for it," he put the towel around his neck.

"You should." We head outside. I yell back into the house, "Mom! Dad! Showing Kyle around the neighborhood!"

I hear them yell okay, and we continue on down. We walk along the beach.

"So ... just what makes Malibu so special?"

"You're looking at it," I gestured to the sea. The ocean here was like it was in the Bahamas: crystal clear, dark blue, and beautiful! The sand was white, and gorgeous. There were the Docks a ways down. There, people anchored their boats and sailing things. It was really amazing. I knew most of the people who worked there, and also who had boats there.

We walked down, and then down the docks. I stopped to introduce him to people now and then, but he seemed shy again, like he had when we first met him.

"Everyone here is so nice," he says.

"Is that bad or good?"

"Both. You know too much about everyone, and then it's like one huge family."

"Get real. People don't get along as well as it seems, you'll see proof of that at school."

"Oh no..." he pretends to be scared.

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean."

"Yeah."

"So, do you want to meet some kids from school? I'm sure they will be in the water today, it's really hot."

"Okay ... sure."

"Then let's go."

We went back to the beach, and back towards the house, before long, I was thrilled. I saw my best friend Courtney, and her boyfriend Mike swimming together.

I pulled Kyle's arm, "Come on, we'll have to swim to catch them."

I took off my shorts and shirt, kicked off my sandals, and let Kyle follow me to the water. I splashed into the waves, then dove in. I swam, hearing him behind me.

We neared them.

"Courtney!" I yelled.

She spun around. "Char!"

They swam over. I dove under, and came up on the other side of them, Kyle stared.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Pretty good, who's the guy?" Courtney asked. "He's cute."

Mike purposely coughed, reminding her that she had a boyfriend. Like she needed reminding!

"The exchange student I told you about. He's from Sydney."

"Australia?" Mike asked, amazed. Kyle swam over. "Yeah. You know of it?"

"Who doesn't?! The Olympics were there. Did you go to them?"

"Yeah, it's cool."

"Awesome."

They talked about some stuff, and we were all hanging out in the water, letting the waves and surfers move around us. Some guy almost wiped us out.

"Let's go back in."

"Good plan."

We swam in, and lounge on the beach, sitting on the edge of the water, letting it lap around us.

Courtney plays with some sand. "So Kyle, how do you like Malibu, California, and the U.S. so far? That's like, three new and different places all in one morning!"

"Yeah, well, it's nice. A lot like Sydney, because Sydney is also always hot it seems."

"Yeah. Did you go to the Olympics that were there?"

"Yep, those were awesome."

"That's really neat."

Mom came outside and yelled for us. We said goodbye to Courtney and Mike, and then we went inside. Mom had dinner ready, I didn't realize how long we had spent talking to them. I went into the dining room, followed by Kyle. Mom had made a lot of food. She had made her famous meatballs and spaghetti, with a homemade sauce. She also made bread, salad, and some other stuff.

Kyle's jaw almost hit the floor at the sight of all of the food.

"Don't worry, she doesn't do this every night, just once in a while when she's really busy, and wants to have leftovers for two days," I say, laughing. We take our seats, even though we are still wet from the beach, I wrap my towel around my waist, and hope it doesn't soak through.

We say the blessing, and then dig in. Kyle has a huge appetite. I have to laugh to myself as Mom serves him a third serving of spaghetti.

He pretends to give me the evil eye. I laugh even more, and Dad coughs to get me to shut up.

I put my dishes away, excuse myself, and then go up to my room. I shower, and put my pajamas, rainbow flannel pants with a white tank top with a huge Hershey's kiss on the front. On the back, in comic writing, it says, "Kiss me." I have had it for a really long time, and it is one of my favorite shirts.

I grabbed a book, and went downstairs. I found Kyle sitting on the porch, looking out at the water.

"Hey," I say, going over, and sitting in the hammock.

"Hey yourself," he looks sad.

"You miss Sydney?"

He nods, "I keep expecting my mom to come in any minute now and tell me that I should stop staring at the ocean, and help with the dishes."

"Yeah, well, this is an unusual day for my mom. I usually have a lot of chores to do, and knowing her, she'll probably put you to work too. Don't worry about it though, school starts on Monday, and things will seem a lot more normal."

"That sounds good."

"Yeah, once school starts, things get better."

"I hope so. I always get kind of weird on weekends, missing home, and stuff. I usually go places with my parents."

"That is the same way things are here. During the year, we'll usually go out to our mountain house. It's really nice, I'm sure you'll love it."

"Yeah, I probably will."

Silence.

"Do you like your parents?"

"Yeah, sometimes we don't get along really well, but things are usually fine. When Adam comes back from his sleep over thing, things will be better. Whenever he isn't around, they always put the attention they show him on me or someone else. It gets really annoying. Do you like them?"

"Yeah..."

"You don't sound convincing."

"They're not my parents, but they seem pretty cool. They do like to talk a lot..."

"Most of the family does..."

"And they ask a lot of questions..."