Chapter 4

Bang.

I was jerked out of my sleep, by a loud thud on the floor of the room.

I sat up, and was startled by a loud yell, and then a groan.

"Char!" Adam was calling for me, afraid of the thing on the floor of our room.

"It's okay Adam. Who is it?" I turned on the light. It was Kyle.

He had done what Mom and Dad were so afraid that Adam would do. He had fallen off the top bunk.

I crawled out of my bed.

"Kyle! Are you okay?"

He groaned, and rolled over. He was holding his shoulder.

"Adam, go get Mom and Dad."

He scurried out of the room.

I hurried to Kyle's side.

"What happened?"

"I fell out in my sleep. I woke up when I fell."

"Do you think you broke it?"

"I doubt it, it just really hurts."

"Well, we'll get my parents, and figure out what's wrong."

Dad appeared, and we took Kyle upstairs to the main deck. We put him on the couch, and then Mom appeared from the captain's room with the First Aid box. I got an ice pack, and Dad made an attachment that hooked it to his shoulder.

"Thanks so much," he said. "I'm really sorry about this."

"Don't worry about it. It was okay."

"Thanks for doing this though."

"You're welcome."

Hopefully, Kyle's shoulder was getting better.

It was the next day, and he had changed the ice pack a couple of times. I woke up early, and made omelets for everyone.

I woke up everyone to ask them what they wanted in them, and then I fixed them. I made fruit smoothies, and toast.

I set the table, and put everything on the table. People started to come upstairs.

"I made breakfast," I said to Kyle, the first one who came up.

"Wow, you went kind of crazy with it, don't you think?"

"Not really. Every once in a while, I give Mom and Dad a break, and cook. They think it's great, because that way, I do the dishes, etc. and they have nothing to worry about."

"That sounds like something they would love," he sits at the bar in one of the stools.

"They do. Most of the time, whenever we are in the cabin or on the boat, they let me cook and stuff, and they just don't care. It gives them a break."

"Sounds good for them."

"It is."

Before long, we were all sitting at the table, eating the food.

I sat on the back deck, with my line in the ocean. Fishing.

Kyle sat next to me, doing the same. Things had been a little uneasy between us since yesterday.

We haven't really talked except for this morning.

Something caught my line, and I reeled it in.

We had already caught almost seven fish. It was really awesome. Whenever we went out on the boat, we would catch a lot of fish to have when we got home. That way, we could have fresh fish for a while.

I wasn't talking, and Kyle was talking about famous athletes in Australia. Again.

" ... what do you think?"

I jumped out of my daze, "Oh sorry, what did you say?"

He sighed, "I thought so. Charlotte, what's with you? You've been totally just not talking to me since yesterday. Was it the bracelet?"

I just stared out at the water, watching the foam that bubbled away from the boat as we sped along.

"I knew it was. I shouldn't have done that. I just thought you might like it. My parents told me that I should do something nice for your family, because I'm living with you guys for three months. So I did, but I wasn't sure who I should do it for. I figured I would do it for you, because I got along the best with you. I was going to give Adam the Australian Outback sweatshirt before I left, for him to have, but I was going to wait on that.

"Then your parents and I don't get along too well. Trust me, we both try a lot, but we just don't seem to get along as well as I hoped."

"Kyle ... it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"It's what you wrote." I dug the note out of my pocket. It had been sitting there for a while, just bothering me. "It's what it meant."

"So..."

"Come on Kyle! You know what I'm talking about! Don't tell me that you don't know!"

"Char, just tell me the truth."

"Shall I say, ‗You can't handle the truth'?" I loved quoting one of my favorite actors.

"Yes I can!"

"You don't know what you can handle and what you can't. You just know that you are a foreign exchange student living in Malibu, California, far away from your perfect little Sydney, Australia!"

"Charlotte..."

"No Kyle. Just don't even talk to me," I stood up, not even bothering to reel in the line, and then spun around and went to the front deck.

I stood there, and let the tears flow freely, and they did indeed. They were flowing so hard that I was afraid I would just dry up. I wanted to go into the kitchen to get a napkin or something, but I knew Kyle would be there, and I didn't want to risk running into him.