I kicked off my shoes and laid back. Summer has just started and I was already antsy. I thought about getting a summer job, but I didn't know what kind of job I wanted to do. I sighed as I sat up and tied my hair up in a bun. My neck was starting to get sweaty.

"Hey Charlie! What's up?" I heard a familiar voice and sat up. Dara! I smiled widely and scrambled to my feet to greet my best friend. We hugged each other and squealed happily. I totally missed her since I saw her a few months ago. Dara's studying in a university in Boston while I'm studying in University of Washington.

"When did you get here?!" I asked her when we broke apart. Dara looked different. She was slimmer and happier. She also dyed her hair blonde. Hmm, something's up.

"About an hour ago. I have to settle some stuff and all. So, how've you been! You look good!" Dara said with a huge smile on her lips. That's Dara. No matter how much she's changed physically, she is still the nice, bubbly Dara.

"Oh stop! I look exactly the same as I usually look. You , on the other hand...what's up with the hair? And the cutesy dresses?....Did somebody got herself a boyfriend??" I said with a teasing smile.

Dara blushed and pushed my shoulder. I laughed and pulled her to sit on the swing. We sat on the swing and Dara started telling me about a new guy she's dating. Apparently he's a medical student. And rich. And smart. And gorgeous. And sexy as fuck..her words, not mine. It's good that things are getting better for Dara. She and her brother Caleb are orphans. They only have each other. Caleb and Dara have been working all through high school and have managed to scrape enough money to get by. It was fortunate Dara won a scholarship. They used to live with their grandma, but she passed away about a year ago. So Dara and Caleb only have each other. And me. It's lucky that my family accepted them as part of the family.

"Have you seen Caleb? I haven't seen him at home." Dara asked.

"Hmm, come to think of it, I haven't seen him in months. I heard he won a scholarship too, right? Which campus?" I asked.

"I don't know. He refused to tell me. And the fact that the letters came while I was on campus didn't help. He didn't want me to know because if I knew which college he chooses, I'd probably try to get him to study near me. He's such a weirdo. So no, I dunno which one he chooses." Dara said as she rolled her eyes. I laughed. Caleb's weird like that.

"So, you're getting a summer job? I'm thinking of getting one. I could use the money. " Dara said as she swung her legs.

"Yep, I am. Just not sure what kind of job to do." I said

"Urgh, I'm parched. Let's go have a cold drink at the cafe." Dara said and I agreed. We got up from the swing and walked towards the Cafe Bella nearby.

At the cafe, we ordered cokes and some pastry stuff. As we were eating and catching up, I felt the hair on my neck stood up and prickled my neck.

"Hey gorgeous!" Somebody spoke into my ear, making me jump. When I turned around to see who it was, Dara screamed her head off and squealed as she hugged the stranger. I looked at them in confusion. A guy was hugging Dara. When they pulled away, a pair of piercing hazel eyes rested on mine and the stranger gave a crooked smile. What?! WHoah!

"Caleb?" I sputtered.

"The one and only. How're you doing Charlie?" Caleb spoke and I stared. Well, hot damn!

"Caleb?! Is that you?!" I sputtered. The gorgeous blonde smiled at me. I stared in disbelief.

"What the hell happened to you?!" I was lost for words. Caleb just grinned.

About 2 years ago, he was just a tall, gawky, skinny awkward teen with acne on his face. He was always around until about 1 and a half year ago. That was when he started travelling for swim meets. He was a good swimmer and had won many swimming competitions. He was either on the road, or at school. I didn't get to see him much. But damn, that is some growth spurt....

Caleb had filled out. A lot. Like he was buffed and toned from all the swimming and his hair was light and almost blonde. His eyes were piercing green hazel orbs. His face was gorgeous and although he still had his babyface, he was chisseled as fuck. Like defined jaw line and shit like that.

"Hey, Charlie! How're you?" Caleb said as he hugged me tightly. And he even smelled different. Cologne, soap and something else. I hugged him back through my bewilderment. When we broke apart, I peered at him as he looked at me as if nothing was different.

"Whoah, Caleb. You have grown up. Like seriously. I'm sure girls are already swimming upriver trying to get you in their pants." I said bluntly and guffawed. Caleb just chuckled. He felt familiar, yet strange. I dunno what. I couldn't put my finger on it. Caleb slung his arm around my shoulders and give it a squeeze.

"Well, I do have my eye on one." He looked at me and wiggled his eyebrows mysteriously. I raised my eyebrows and smiled.

"Nice...Good luck. I'm sure you don't need it since you've grown up to be really hot, Caleb." I joked but it felt weird that I wanted to take it back.

"Well, I hope you're right. I think I need a lot of luck with this one." Caleb said with a mysterious smile.

"Oooh, a spunky one. I like her already!" I said and three of us sat in comfortable company and talked. It was nice to see my old friends after almost a year being apart.

"So, I heard you won a sports scholarship. Way to go! So, where are you going to go?" I asked casually.

"University of Washington." Caleb said and smiled as he looked at me and munched on a danish.

I stared at him. No. Fucking. Way..

Okay, breathe...breathe, damnit! I reminded myself as I stared at Caleb. He was smiling that crooked amused smile, like he was enjoying this. A lot.

"Ohh..okay. Um, so we'll get to spend more time together. That's nice." I mumbled.

"I know right! I really hope you can help look out for Caleb. Get him to stay out of trouble." Dara said with a smile.

I just nodded and smiled. I felt Caleb looking at me with a smirk in his face. I felt like smacking it off his face. Grrr...

After a while, it was almost dinner time. Dara and Caleb were supposed to have dinner with my family. My mum made sure of it. She had called like 7 times to make sure I bring them back with me.

We arrived at my house. My dad was already home. 3 of us walked in through the kitchen door as per usual. My mum was putting finishing touches on the salad and beamed happily when she saw us.

"Hey guys! You're right on time! Come on in!" She said as she put the salad bowl on the dining table. We filed in.

"Hi honey" she said as she hugged me. I hugged her back.

"Hi, mum." I then stepped away and mum hugged Dara as both of them squealed. Yeah, they did actually squeal.

"Hi Mrs James! We missed you!" Dara exclaimed. My mum hugged Dara tight.

"Oh honey, me too. How are both of you doing? Caleb, any news?"Mum asked as she hugged Caleb, who clung to her like a Koala bear.

"Well, I'm going to Washington U. With Charlie here,"Caleb said as he slung his arm over my shoulder. I pinched him in his waist (or at least I tried to. The boy was all hard muscle!) and he jumped away from me.

"Well, that's nice. Then Charlie can look out for you." Mum said as she hugged me by my shoulder.

"Mum, he's almost 19. He doesn't need a baby-sitter." I groaned.

At dinner, we caught up with each other's lives. Dad and Caleb were talking about some game on tv and Dara was telling mum about her new guy. I ate silently, happily enjoying my mum's yummy pot roast. I liked that my best friends are really close to my parents. Especially since I was the only child. Having Dara and Caleb around kinda felt like having siblings. Just then I caught Caleb looking at me. He winked at me. It took me by surprise, so I stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled.

Now Caleb being in the same college as me, worried me a lot. I didn't want him to see what a loser I was. Caleb's popular, so I would feel embarrassed if he knew I had zero friends and kept to myself. I guess I'll just have lie low and make sure we don't bump into each other. Wait, with the way Caleb looks now, I'm sure he'll have a busy social life, dating up a storm andprobably doesn't have time for me. Oh God, I hope so.

************************************

I got a job in a coffee shop in town. Dara worked there with me, which was fun. Our boss was cool. Caleb would come by sometimes with some random girl and insisted that I serve them. The scheming troll...

One day, I was doing my job, as per usual, when a group of guys came in. They looked like college jocks and they were very loud. They were sitting at Dara's section. She was nervous but she went to them to get their order. I was busy making a smoothie at the bar and was watching from afar. The guys were 'all hands' to say the least. Their leader, I presumed, kept brushing his hand up Dara's arm and touching her hips. She kept swatting off his hand and trying to keep her cool. When she went back to the bar to give the order, she was frowning.

"You okay, Dara?" I asked as I eyed the group.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing I couldn't handle." Dara said distractedly as she handed me the order slip. I took it and started preparing their order.

When their order was ready, Dara took the tray laden with food and drinks to the group. The guys cheered when she arrived at the table. She put the food and drinks on the table as quickly as she could and was about to leave when one of the guys grabbed her hand. He held it tight as he spoke to her. I saw her trying to pull her hand away and shaking her head, as if to refuse. I felt anger bubbling up in my stomach. Taking a deep breath, I marched to the table to get Dara out of there.

"Um, hey guys, is there anything that you might need?" I forced myself to speak nicely.

"No, we're good. You can go." The guy holding Dara's hand said, dismissing me. I felt anger welling up to me.

"You know, can you let go of her hand? There are a lot more customers that she needs to serve. It would be a huge favour if you could just let go of her hand, sir." I said patiently, with a fake smile on my lips.

"Get lost dyke! Or I'll pound you!" One of the guys stood up and started moving towards me, trying to intimidate me. Being 5'9 and almost 200 pounds, I wasn't intimidated..much.. I took a step back when he started to invade my personal space.

"Why do you care? What, she your girlfriend?" He piped in. I could feel his spittle flying to my face. Eeewww....

"Look, come on guys. Just relax. I don't want any trouble. I think you should let go of her hand and let her do her job." I said as tried to be civil even though deep down, I really wanted to smack the idiots in the face.

"What if he doesn't want to? What then? Wait, you're jealous, aren't you? You want some action, too, you fat dyke?" The meathead said as he moved closer and grabbed my arms, squeezing hard. I winced and tried to get free. I looked around the cafe. A few pre-teens and 2 old ladies were gaping at us. Shit, and the boss had gone to the bank. I hated that he called me fat. Hated it!

"I think you should leave," I said flatly, although my heart was racing and I could feel my anger coursing through my body.

"The fuck did you say? Who the fuck are you to tell me to leave, bitch!" The idiot started to get worked up. His friends were jeering and the guy holding onto Dara was trying to get her to sit on his lap. Dara was resisting and trying to pull her arms out of the vise-like grip. She was crying and pleading with him to let her go. He just laughed and put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Dara shrieked.

"Leave before I call the cops. Get your hands off her!" I cried and charged towards Dara. I pulled her to me and the leader got up and charged towards me. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a punch landed on my cheek and knocked me down to the floor. The two guys started to kick me while the others looked on. They looked worried. It had gone too far and they knew it. Dara cried out and kept pulling at the leader to stop them from kicking me. I was on the floor, in fetal position, protecting my head, face and front from being butted by their stubby sneakers. It hurt like hell. I could hear the screams of the old ladies and the pre-teens, telling them to stop.

Suddenly, the kicking stopped. I heard shuffling and shouts and punches hitting faces. I peered through my hand and saw somebody beating the crap out of the leader, while the other guys started to leave. I hurt everywhere. Dara was shaking me, crying and calling my name. Then there was a shout. Mr Cohen, my boss? He's back from the bank and was threatening to call the police. I saw the boys left and Caleb throwing one guy out the door. Wait, Caleb's here too?!

"Charlie! Charlie!? Are you alright?! Wake up, wake up!" I saw Caleb hovering over me. His face was so close that I felt I could touch it. I tried to move, but searing pain pulsated through me. Before I knew it, everything went black.