• **Chase's Point of View**

    Emma dropped me off at school. She wished me a good day and I nodded and left. I saw Max and Grace soaking up the warm rays of the sun. I walked over to them setting my blazer down on the bench and sitting. Grace had her hair pinned up in a tight bun, showing her strongly built face and bright blue-green eyes. A long scar lingered darkly on her left cheek, she smiled at me and I was pulled off of it and towards her bright smile.

    “Good morning.” Max said, propping up on his arms.

    “Morning, how are you two?” I asked. Max shrugged.

    “Good, just glad its warmer out.” Grace said. Max whispered something to her and she let out a carefree laugh. She was so much different today. She was actually happy, well that I could see. Felix walked over; he had a black eye on his left eye. It was dark but her still held a high head.

    “Hey Chase.” He said sitting down next to Grace. “Sup bud.”

    “Not much, happy it is warm.” He laughed free-hearted. “What?”

    “This is probably the last day we will get like this for a while.” He said smiling, I sighed and Grace laughed.

    “Got to get used to this bud.” She said softly. I shook my head and she wrapped her around my shoulder and hugged me. “Don’t worry, pretty soon you can join us while we go skinny dipping in the ocean.
    “What?” I asked, they all laughed.

    “Joking dude, but we are going to the beach after school today; you’re more then welcome to join us.” She offered.

    “Yeah I’ll be there.” I said. She smiled again.

    “Kimmi!” Max shouted getting up and running over to a girl with brown hair, that lightened up as it fell against her shoulders. He hugged her tightly and they walked over. She sat down next to Felix and leaned against him.

    “Hey girlie.” He said.

    “Hello.” She smiled and then looked at me. “Who are you?”

    “I’m Chase.” I answered, she nodded and went into a quiet conversation with Felix and Max. Grace was busy reading a book, I sighed and leaned back closing my eyes lost in thought.

    “Look who it is.” A voice said. I looked up; a boy was smiling at Felix. “Looks like you lost a fight.”

    “Oh my god CHER!” Max yelled running up to the boy. He looked at Max with an odd look. “Can I get your autograph?”

    “Go away.” The boy said walking away.

    “Come on, just one autograph…..and a picture come on I have my camera.” Max said chasing after him. We could hear the boy saying go away and ******** off, but Max ignored it and continued his search for Cher’s autograph. We laughed and watched Max chase after him. He walked back to us.

    “Have fun?” Grace asked.

    “Loads.” He sat down out of breath and sighed. “Damn I didn’t get it.”

    “All in due time.” Felix joked. Max nodded and laughed. “Thanks.”

    “No prob.” Max huffed. The bell rang and we walked into the building. Me and Grace walked into our first class. It was make up work day and I didn’t have to do much, I would just be counted for the work from my old school. Grace was working her new sketchbook, the drawing was just a complex design, looked like a pair of black wings wrapped in thorns and wilted roses.

    “Hey Grace.” I said, she looked up at me.

    “What?”

    “Would you like to catch some coffee before the beach?”
    She smiled. “Yeah I’d like that.” She went back to drawing and I pulled out the book I was reading. Classes went by fast and soon we, well I was tackled by Max.

    “Hello buddy!” He said. I looked at him.

    “Hey Max.” I said in shock.
    “Max, did you have caffeine?” Grace asked. He nodded and giggled like a five year old girl, up to no good. “Who gave it to you?” He looked around and shrugged. Grace sighed.

    “Max.”
    “It might have, possibly, probably, most likely, was not Felix.” He smiled and I looked at him in confusion.

    “Felix.” Grace nodded. “Well this is going to be fun.” We sat down at the picnic table where we met this morning. Felix and Kimmi walked over to us.

    “Hey.” Felix said sitting down. Kimmi was quiet and was busy reading her book.

    “So Felix, you gave Max caffeine.” Grace said, Felix looked at us and then his eyes drifted down.

    “No of course not.” He said.

    “Look at him.” She pointed over at Max who was busy braiding my hair and giggling. I mouthed the words help and they just laughed.

    “So he stole my monster and chugged it.” Felix lied.

    “You gave it to me.” Max sang joyful. Grace was quiet and shook her head. “I like….” We all looked at him waiting for it. “RAZZLES!” We all shook are heads. He laughed, the kid from early walked past us with some of his friends. Max smiled wildly. “CHER!” The kid looked back with pure horror on his face.

    “No, no, no I am not Cher!” He stammered. It went over Max and he was already chasing him. His friends were standing still, trying to piece together what was going on. Felix, me, and Grace were all laughing. Kimmi let out a quiet chuckle and went back to reading, not caring about his antics.
    Max came back to us with a triumphant look on his face.

    “Did you get her autograph?” I asked he shook his head.

    “Better.” He giggled. We all looked at him. “I hugged her, and kissed her on the cheek!” He jumped up and down like a school girl. The bell for afternoon classes rung and we all sighed and walked to the building slowly. Me and Max had gym together, this was going to be an interesting class.

    While Max chatted off my ear about Cher, Adam walked in to room. Max stopped and was silent. “Yeah Cher is great.” I agreed hoping he asked the question, to thankful he chat was over.

    “I didn’t ask you that.” He said. “Not that it matters, cause she is awesome.” Adam was smiling gleefully at us. “b*****d.”
    “What?”

    “Not you.” He said, I nodded. It was dodge ball today, and Max was a captain and he chose me first. Adam was on the other team and Max zoned in on him. Wiping balls at him whenever he had a chance. At one point, towards the end of the game, he hit Adam in the groin. Adam fell to the ground.

    “What the ********!” He yelled. “You stupid f*****t.” Max smiled innocently and walked over to him.

    “You should know what that was for.” He said to him, he walked over to me as we sat out for the rest of the game for ‘roughness.’

    “So what was that about?” I asked, Max looked at me.

    “What was what about?”

    “Hitting Adam like that.”

    “Long story.” I shrugged and he went back to talking about Cher. I sighed and zoned out, thinking about anything else, but Grace only came to my head. The bell rung and pulled me back to reality. Me and Max walked out and parted ways, I walked to art. Grace was already sitting it there, her head down on the table.

    “You ok?” I asked sitting down, she nodded.

    “Just tired.” She said softly. I nodded. “So how were your classes?”

    “Fine, Max hit Adam in the groin during dodge ball today.” She chuckled lightly. “Then he was chatting off my ear about Cher, I zoned out for the most part.”
    “And what would you be thinking about?”

    “Well, ummm.” I stammered, she looked at me and smiled. “I was thinking about porn.” She laughed.

    “Really what kind?”

    “Hentai, tentacle rape.” She shook her head and laughed.

    “Alright keep what ever you were thinking about a secret.”

    “Will do.” She shook her head and went back to drawing. The teacher gave me a green art book and I started to draw my awesome stick figures. Grace looked at me and then my sketchbook.

    “Well that’s interesting.” She commented. She chuckled. “You’re good at drawing stick
    people.”

    “Thanks, it’s the only thing I can really draw.” She laughed. The rest of the hour past quickly and we walked out.

    “So um, about coffee, where do you want to meet?” Grace asked.

    “Well my sis should have dropped off the car and you can just ride with me.” I offered. She nodded.

    “Yeah I’d like that.” She smiled. “Just come walk with me, I have to tell Evan.” I followed her over to a blue Volvo. She knocked on the window and a man with honey blonde hair rolled down the window.

    “Sup Grace.” He said he looked over at me.

    “Hey I am going to get a coffee with Chase.” She pointed at me. “Then go down to the beach and meet up with Felix and he gang.”

    “Alright, when you going to be home?” He asked.

    “Don’t worry I’ll get her back at a decent hour.” I said, the man nodded. We walked over to the parking lot and got in a dark red Mustang.

    “Nice car.” She said.

    “It’s my sisters, but she is giving it to me. She got her dream car.” I replied. We pulled out and I drove over to the café that just opened in town. Café Dreams, my sister opened it. It was a retreat and made for people to relax.

    “Hello welcome to Café Dreams.” Lance said. “Chase sup man.” He looked at Grace.

    “Not much, oh Lance this is Grace friend from mine at school.” I introduced them.

    “Pleasure to meet you, so what could I get you two.”

    “I’ll have a Carmel mocha latte with a double shot.” Grace said.
    “You know what I like.” I said, Lance nodded and went to work on them. Me and Grace sat down on the black leather couch that was against the window. Lance brought are coffee.

    “Thanks.” Grace smiled. She pulled out her wallet.

    “On the house.” Lance smiled. Grace nodded and put it back in her bag.

    “Thanks for the coffee.” Grace said.

    “No prob, figured you could get out a little before the beach.” She blushed.

    “Yeah, I guess.” She sighed and leant back her eyes closed.

    “You ok?” She nodded and looked back at me.

    “It’s just, that……you know what never mind its stupid.” She took another drink.

    “Come on we should get going to the beach.” She nodded in agreement and we got ready. She shivered when we got outside, it was cooling off.

    “Funny its dropped temperature so fast.” She mumbled I put my blazer over her. “Thanks.”

    It was a quick drive over to the beach we were meeting at. “Where is it?” I asked only seeing the dense forest.

    “Come on.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me down a path. We got to a small white sanded beach; Felix, Max, and Kimmi were already there. They smiled at us and we sat down on the blanket they laid out.

    “Was the coffee good?” Felix asked. Grace nodded. “So Chase we have burgers to cook.” He pointed to the small grill. “And a bunch of other stuff.”

    “Cool.” We sat at the beach talking about nothing. Just hanging out and I felt at home. I felt like I was with my old friends. Grace was laughing and I could see this was her family. Max started cooking the burgers.

    “So who wants cheese on theirs?” He asked, Felix and Kimmi asked for it.

    “Grace I have something for you.” Almost forgetting. I dug through my backpack and got
    to a green folder. I passed it to her. Max and Felix were joking about something.
    She was speechless and looked through the pages. “It can’t be.” She murmured. “I thought I threw it out.” She looked at me.

    “I couldn’t let it go to waste and I knew you were doing that just in the moment.” She smiled thankfully.

    “I don’t know what to say.” She blushed.

    “Hey Grace I think he likes you.” Max blurted. I looked at him. “Do you?”

    “Yeah I guess so.” I admitted.

    “Grace do you like him?” Max asked, she just blushed. “I knew it.”

    “Hey Grace, would you like to see a movie or something on Friday?” I asked, she nodded.

    “Awww, Grace has a date.” Felix said. I smiled.

    “So what.” Grace said.

    “That means I have to make you pretty before then, we are going shopping as an emergence.” Max said getting up and grabbing her. “You are going to be extra sexy for this boy.”

    “Bye guys.” She said being dragged off. Felix just laughed.

    “Well I should get going, you know that Nate worries about me.” Kimmi said.

    “Yeah well, see you tomorrow Chase.” Felix got up and walked over to me. I put on my blazer and said goodbye to them and walked to my car. I had a date with Grace. This was brilliant. I hope that I don’t blow it.