Chapter 5: Exploring

Angel's POV:

I looked out at the water. The waves crashed against the shore, then going back out to sea. Like the sea was beckoning me to come out to play. As much as I wanted to surf, I had to wait for Rose and Bailey. They told me to wait by the beach. They wanted to take me to a secret beach that they surf. Apparently it's gorgeous. "Angel!!" Rose called. I turned and looked at her.

She ran over to me with Bailey trailing behind. They both had their boards out. "Thanks for waiting." She said. "Sure." I said. "Now let us show the great surf guru our secret beach." Bailey said, bowing to me. I frowned and got uncomfortable. "Don't-don't do that. You guys can't do that." I said. "Why not?" Rose asked. "It makes me uneasy." I said, as I got down from the rocks. "But other people do that." Bailey said.

"You guys are my best friends. When other people do it, it's okay....well actually not really. I'm not okay in general, if you guys do it, then I'm really gonna feel uncomfortable. So...don't do it." I said. "Sorry." Rose said. "So this secret beach of yours...is it amazing?" I asked. Rose smirked. "Oh Angel. You're gonna love it." Bailey said. Walking past the beach and crossing large rocks, we came to the secret beach. "Here it is." Rose said. I looked up and gasped.

"This is beautiful." I said. "It's fantastic, isn't it?" Bailey said. "Oh my God and you guys have the whole beach to yourselves?" I asked. "Yep. I found this beach one day while my parents were settling in when we first moved here." Rose said. "Lucky." I said. We walked out onto the sand. I looked down at the waves as it brushed against my feet. I looked up at the sea. "You guys ready?" I asked.

They both nodded and set down their stuff. We ran out into the water and paddled. We wanted to surf for a while before we picked up the boys. We were all going exploring today. Yesterday, I met my childhood best friend Ace. I haven't seen him since I left the adoption agency. I can't remember much about him. We lost contact and now I want to spend time with him.

I really missed him but he feels a way about me. I didn't understand why. I never did anything bad to him...not that I can recall. Last thing I remember is me getting adopted. This was so long ago, I don't remember what happened between us. But whatever it is, I don't think it's that deep. I really do believe we can rekindle our friendship. "Angel watch out!!" Bailey yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked behind me and saw a big wave coming for me. I paddled towards it. Okay. Here we go. I honestly don't know why I'm psyching myself up for this wave. I've surfed waves bigger than this one. I rode it with ease. I looked over and saw Rose and Bailey doing their tricks. "So you guys ready to teach me those tricks yet?" I yelled, over the loud waves.

"Sure!!" They both yelled.

We came back to land and practiced. "Okay once you get your feet planted firm on the board, do a flip." Bailey said. I nodded and did want she told me. "The wave will carry your board but it won't stay flat on the wave forever. You gotta time your jump and land before the wave washes your board away." She continued. I nodded. Then I learned Rose's trick. Then we went back out into the water.

As soon as I hit a wave, I tried the tricks they taught me. Of course I didn't get it right on the first try. I practiced over and over and over til I finally got it. "You did it Angel!!" Rose cried. They cheered for me. I squealed and was proud of myself. Of course I kept practicing til it was time to go. We went home, put our boards down, and changed. We packed up our stuff needed for exploring.

I texted Ace to remind him to get him and the guys ready. He responded back about ten minutes later. Then he called me. "So you legit get up early in the morning and explore?" He asked, angrily. I laughed. "Yes. I'm used to this. I get up early and surf so I don't get bombarded by fans." I said. There was a brief pause before he spoke. "Weirdo." He said. I laughed. "We'll be there in a bit." He said, then he hung up.

I smiled. "Angel, what's with that smile?" Kya asked, smiling. I rolled my eyes. "Nothing. Mind ya business." I said, as I walked downstairs. "I'm guessing you have a crush on Ace." Mama said, walking over to us. "What? No way." I said. "Well you cheesing like an alcoholic at a gin convention." She said. I laughed. "No. Me and Ace are just friends." I said. "Ha! that's what I said when I was your age." She said.

I looked at her. "How do y'all know about Ace anyway? I never brought him up." I said. "I heard you say his name in your sleep last night." She said. I blushed and quickly looked away. "Exactly. Angel you like him." Mama said. "I do not. I just missed my old friend. I just want to spend time with him but I don't like him." I said. They both stared at me. "I'm serious. I don't like Ace that way." I said.

"Mmmhm. It's clear you like him." Kya said. "How is it clear?" I asked. "You went and got me yesterday and you were smiling so hard. Then you said his name in your sleep." She said. I mocked her. "Girl shut up." I said. "Face it Angel. You like Ace." Mama said. "No I don't. There's actually someone else at school that I do like though." I said, blushing. They both squealed. "Who is it?" Rose asked.

I turned around and saw her and Bailey standing in the doorway. "Let's go." I said, quickly pushing them out the door. "Angel if you do have se, be safe!! Use a condom!!" Mama yelled. I blushed hard and closed the door. I turned around and Rose and Bailey beat red. "Fuck y'all." I said, walking past them. "Oh come on Angel. It's clear up have feelings for Ace." Rose said.

"I care about him, yes. But do I have a crush on him? No." I said. "You're in denial." Bailey said. "Oh my God let's go meet the guys." I said. Getting in Bailey's car, I sat in the back. Her and Rose talked about who it could be that I liked. I didn't want to say anything. We pulled up to the park and seen the guys sitting outside the car. All three of them looked tired. We got out and walked up to them.

"Damn it." Kyle said. "What?" Rose asked. "I was hoping y'all wouldn't show up so we get go home and get back in bed." He said. "Boy." I said. "Well we're here." Bailey said. "This is something y'all do every morning?" Mike asked. "If you mean get up early in the morning for surfing, then yeah." I said. They all groaned. "I told y'all she was weird." Ace said. "Shut up." I said, playfully pushing him.

"Let's go. Mountains look amazing in the morning." Rose said. "So we're really going hiking early in the morning?" Mike asked. "Yes. And exploring. There's this place in the forest that I heard has mystic powers." Bailey said. "Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" Kyle asked. "I'm guessing, Kyle, that you are not a morning person." I said. "Who is? Oh yeah. Y'all." He said.

"Your cranky level is high." Rose said. We walked out into the park and climbed over the fences. We walked through the woods and continued walking along a path. "Do you have any idea where we're going?" Ace asked. "Rose has a GPS thing." I said. "We're fine. As long as we stick to this path, we'll be fine." Rose said. We walked along the path, heading further up the mountain.

"Hey I see light!!" Bailey exclaimed, as she ran up the path. "Bailey wait!!" Rose said. We all ran after her. Bailey continued running up the path til she disappeared. "Bailey!!" Rose called. "You guys gotta see this!!" Bailey yelled. We finally caught up to her. "Check this view." She said. I gasped. "This view is amazing." Mike said. "Oh wow." Ace said, in awe. "This is amazing." Mike said. "Stunning." I said.

We all took pictures. "Okay. That was fantastic. Now let's go." Ace said. "What do you mean 'let's go'? I wanna keep hiking." Kyle said. "Oh now you're in a better mood?" Ace asked. "Looking at a view like this, why wouldn't I be?" Kyle said. "He's right. Let's keep going. And Bailey? Try to stay on the path." Rose said. "Yes please. There's no telling what could happen to you." I said.

"Okay Mom." Bailey said, sarcastically. I smiled. We walked along the path and continued walking. It was about ten minutes before we realized Mike wasn't behind us. "Mike?" I called. Everyone looked around. "Mike?" Ace called. "Mike where are you?" Kyle called. "Sorry. I had to pee." He said, as he appeared from behind a tree. He walked over to Bailey. "So you said there's a place that holds mystic power?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. My brother told me about it." She said. "Your brother also once told you that eggplants actually came from planting eggs." Rose said. I laughed. "Well I now know that's not true." Bailey said. "Can we keep moving?" Ace asked, irritably. We continued walking along the path til we came to another top of the mountain. "Wow. This view is incredible." Kyle said.

"It is. So beautiful." Rose said. "I wish I could live out here." Bailey said. "There's fog down there." Ace said. "That's not gonna stop me." I said. "No I mean there's so much fog down there." He said. I looked down. "He's right. That's too much fog. I hope we will be able to see." I said. "We will. It's just a little fog. Play we got flashlights." Rose said. "But it's covering almost the whole forest." Ace said. "Relax. We'll be fine." Rose said. I looked down at the fog below.

Then we heard thunder rumbling above us. "Uh oh." Mike said. "No it's fine. The forecast said we'd only hear thunder but no rain." Rose said. "So it's not gonna rain?" Ace asked. She shook her head. "No. We're fine." She said. "Come on. I wanna go check out that abandoned building." Bailey said. We walked back down the trail and came to a lake. We decided to take a break.

I looked over at Ace. He stared out at the lake. I bit my lip. Come on Angel. You wanted him out here to spend time with him. Now talk to him. I opened my mouth but Ace spoke first. "Kyle, Mike, we need to talk." He said. Fuck. I watched as he pulled them off to the side, far from us. "So Angel, you gon tell us who you like now?" Rose asked. "Oh my God. Just drop it." I said.

"No way. We wanna know." Bailey said. "Guys please." I said. "Angel come on. Why are you so against telling us? Just admit it's Ace." Bailey said. "What's me?" Ace asked, coming over to us. We all looked at him. "Angel here has something she wants to say." Bailey said. All eyes were on me. Bailey!! "Ace, I wanted to know what you been up to since we last saw each other." I said, staring at Bailey.

She glared at me. "She actually wanted to say-" I cut Bailey off by kissing her. She stared at me. "Oh shit. Angel you gay?" Mike asked. "No." I said. "Bi?" Kyle asked. "No I'm straight." I said. "Then what was that all about?" Ace asked. "I wanted to shut Bailey up because she talks too damn much." I said, standing up. She glared at me. "Look let's just go." I said, irritably. I now wanted to go back home.

"Wait Angel come on. What did you really want to ask me?" Ace asked. "Nothing." I said. "So you just kissed Bailey to shut her up for no reason?" He asked. "Yes." I said. "Angel come on." Rose said. I shook my head and abruptly turned around. "They think I have a crush on you Ace, which is certainly not the case. I don't like you like that and I want them to understand that." I said, glaring at Rose and Bailey.

Ace stared at me before turning to look Kyle and Mike. I shook my head. "This is why I didn't want to say anything." I said. "But dorm you're feel better now that it's out there?" Rose asked. "No. I feel like a total asshole right now." I said. "Probably cause of the way you blurted it out." Bailey said. I shook my head then looked out at the lake.

I seen something in the water that made its way over to two canoes in the distant. "Did you guys see that?" I asked. "No don't try to change the subject." Ace said. "No look!" I cried. They looked out at the lake. Suddenly, the two canoes moved. "What in the-" Rose muttered. "Is someone else out here?" Bailey asked. "No. I don't think so. People shouldn't be on that side of the lake anyway." Kyle said. "Well it looks like someone is out there." I said.

"There shouldn't be. That really goes far out into the forest. There's nothing but forest for miles." Rose said. Then we heard splashing. "I can't see that clearly. The fog..." Kyle said. "We should leave." Ace said. "No!! Are you guys seriously gonna be scared of two canoes moving?" Rose asked. "Ain't no telling what's out there Rose." I said. Suddenly we heard more splashing.

Then a dog appeared from behind the canoes. We all sighed in relief. "Oh good. It's just a dog." I said. The dog looked at us then paddled towards us. Then it began to sink. "Oh no!!" I cried. We all ran into the water and tried to save it. Ace and me got to it first. We carried it back to shore. "Oh man. Poor little thing is shaking." Bailey said. "It's must've been swimming for a long time or something." Mike said.

"You didn't even go in." Bailey said. I looked at him. He was completely dry. "Sorry Ace and Angel got to it before I did." He said, sarcastically. "It doesn't have a collar." Kyle said. "So it's a stray dog?" Rose asked. "Rose no. It can still be anyone's dog. We should take it back to town so someone can claim it."'I said. I looked down at the dog. It was shaking violently.

"The lake must've been freezing for it to be shaking like this." I said. "We should warm him up." Mike said. He looked underneath it. "My bad. We should warm her up." He said. We pulled out a towel and dried the dog up. We tried to wrap it up using our blankets but it thrashed around for a bit. We decided to take the dog with us. Then I heard splashing.

We all looked up. "Is there another dog?" Ace asked. "Hopefully not. I hate to think of two dogs out here suffering from the freezing lake." Rose said. We carefully looked around at the lake. The fog was thickening. Then we heard a man yelling. Then Christian appeared across the lake. "Sharky!! Sharky!!" He yelled. "Oh it's just Christian." Bailey said. "Sharky where are you girl?" Christian called.

"Who is Sharky?" Mike asked "Sharky where are you?" Christian yelled. "Christian!!" I called. He looked over at me and smiled. "Oh you guys found my dog!!" He yelled. "Yeah!! We didn't know whose it was!!" I yelled. Christian got inside one of the canoes and made his way over to us. The dog began to lick his face. "Hey Sharky." He said. "It's your dog?" Ace asked.

"Yeah. I was walking with her when she got loose. She got caught on a branch then her collar came off and she ran away." He said. "Well we seen her on the lake. She started to sink before we rescued her." I said. "Thanks so much." He said. "Why is she named Sharky?" Kyle asked. "I saw her get attacked by a shark when she was a puppy." He began. "Oh that's so sad." I said. "Yeah it is. Poor thing." He said.

"How did she get attacked?" Kyle asked. "I was walking on the beach one day. Saw a family playing with her. She went out into the water and a shark appeared out of nowhere. The shark attacked her but she survived." He continued. "Aww. She must've been terrified." I said. "Yeah she was. She was shaken up. The original owners didn't want her anymore after they saw how disfigured she was." He paused.

He began to pet the dog. "But I adopted her and got her surgery. Now she's back to normal and my dog." He finished. "She's so cute." I said. We all pet the dog as she wagged her tail. "What are you kids doing out here anyway?" Christian asked. "Exploring." Rose said. "We know it's a bit early to be out here." Mike said. "It's actually three o clock in the afternoon." Christian said. We all looked at our phones.

"I guess it's true what they say: time does fly when you're having fun." Bailey said. "Well I gotta go. Y'all be careful out here." Christian said. He grabbed Sharky and got back in the canoe. "Hey Christian!!" Bailey called. He looked at her. "Do you know anything about an abandoned building out in the woods?" She asked. "Yeah. It's out by Red Rock." He said. "Red Rock?" I repeated. He nodded.

"Yeah, Red Rock. Go west of Red Rock, walk about fifty yards, and it should be right there. The place has been abandoned for years. Be careful. Some of the building is still falling apart. It'll crush ya if you're not careful." He said. He made it to the other side of the lake then disappeared into the woods. "Red Rock? We know where that is." Kyle said. "You do?" I asked.

"Yeah. We used to go there. But we stopped because, like Christian said, the place is still falling apart." Mike said. I looked at Ace. "Ready to go?" I asked. He shrugged. We followed the guys to a place called Red Rock. Me being new, I had no idea where we were going. Along the way, I looked up at Ace. He had on a serious look on his face. "Ace you okay?" I asked. He shook his head. I pulled him to the side. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing." He said. "Ace come on. I used to know you." I said. "Keywords: used to." He said. "Why are so against me Ace? What did I do to you?" I asked. "Like you didn't know." He said. "I don't know." I said. "Angel come on now. Stop acting dumb." He said. "I'm not acting." I said. He stared at me before yelling, "Angel fucking abandoned me!!" I was sure he got the attention of the group.

"Abandoned you? When have I ever done that?" I asked. "When we were kids. You left for me another family. You left me there to rot." He said. "Ace I didn't abandon you. I was adopted by a nice family. Not my fault nobody wanted you." I said. He pushed me to the ground. "Ace don't!!" Kyle said. I got back up and punched Ace in the face. He glared at me. "Okay okay guys!! Let's chill." Bailey said.

She and everyone else got between us, as me and Ace glared at each other. "Wow. All these years later and your still an asshole. I didn't abandon your bitch ass." I said. "Whose a bitch?" He asked, icily. He got in my face. We were literally inches from each other. "You are." I said. We glared at each other. "Ace I'm not scared of you. I mean you let that boy, whatever his name is, call you out your name. Chris." I said.

Then I heard snarling. "Chris can't beat me. He never has and he never will." He said. "Yesterday in the library, I saw a whole different story." I said. "Alright look!! Let's just go home!! Ace let's go!!" Kyle said. He grabbed Ace and pulled him off. Mike went with them. I watched as they disappeared back into the woods. The tears flowed down my face. I started sobbing. What the fuck just happened?!