The best place for the next moment

Fine white sand shaped to and scolded my feet as I walked across the beach. I just kept my eyes on my beach chair and listened to the sloshing of the water against the shore, desperately trying to forget that my feet were on fire. It must have been the middle of the day for the sand to be this hot...but I wasn't keeping track of time, I was on vacation. The whole country was beautiful, the food tasted fifty times sweeter, the people were genuinely nicer and my hotel was like stepping off the shuttle bus and entering paradise. Bathing in the sun's mid-day heat, I let my mind wander. I thought about leaving my friends behind without telling them where I was going, wondering if they'd even notice I was gone or if they'd continued their own summer adventures without me. Thinking about being forgotten both agitated me and brought me peace of mind.The sound of waves against the shore brought back my thoughts and eventually led me to walk into the water. As soon as I dove in, the moment slipped away and I felt as if I was swimming through the night's sky. Surrounded by lovely sparkles of light and feeling the cool waves splash over my sunburned head, I closed my eyes and just kept swimming....

Stopping to breath, I found that I wasn't underwater anymore but sitting on my deck reading. It must've still been summer because the sun shone brightly and I took a long drink of water. "I've really got to stop being outside in the mid-day heat," I told myself and went back to my book. Endless Summer is what I was just about to finish and seeing how close I was to the end of the book brought an empty feeling of finishing the book along with the joy of finding out the end of the story. Although I've read enough sappy teen books to guess that the main characters Lori and Adam end up together, I had a sliver of hope that this book would be different. Finishing off the last sentence I found this book wasn't very different, I didn't feel disappointed though, being in their world of chaos for the past six hours was a relief from my boring summer. I hadn't done anything in the past few days and the thrill of beggining my other new book and being a part of that world was alluring, so I picked up that book and began to read. I had only reached the second chapter when I became fully immersed in the story, On The Jellicoe Road, about a girl who's mother left her at a 7-Eleven when she was twelve and her whole world being a puzzle...

I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw my best friend waiting for me to cross the street, we were on our usual trip to Mac's. The blazing summer sun was beating down on my head and making me thirsty. I'd gotten to know the mid-day sun very well this summer. It wasn't really a long walk, from her house to the store, I just felt that all the walking we'd done earlier from the mall to her house made it seem miles away, "I don't want to go anymore...let's go home." She looked at me, not a trace of anger or annoyance in her eyes (I'd been saying this for the past twenty minutes), and calmly said, "I know you'll regret saying that as soon as we turn back. Don't try to tell me otherwise." With that said, I walked all the way to Mac's without another word. Eating my sour cherry blasters, I was happy to know that there was one person out there that took the time to get to know me. Yeah, its all too cliché but all the walls that people make around themselves these days is overwhelming to think about, just the idea that we're not all the exact same person around everyone makes me worry. I know that's why I can remember this moment so vividly, not because it altered my destiny but because I knew that someone cared. Sometimes I look around and think that everyone needs a little push to cross the street.