Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) by Brighton Hill

felt off balance. I felt reckless
like I was losing control. I needed to get a grip on reality. My
obsessions were driving me mad. I knew what I saw, but it just
wasn’t possible.
    For a short time I swam around looking for
the très beaux. But again, I couldn’t find them. I wondered if it
had only been wishful thinking that I would discover them out
there. I knew I was sane, but nothing was making sense.
    As I thought about it, I realized I was lucky
I didn’t find the French exchange students swimming about. It would
have been stupid to question them about Laurent. They already acted
so bizarre around me; it was absurd for me to think they would be
forthcoming. It would be more likely that they would try to drown
me.
    With my thoughts, I just waded in the dark
rhythmic waters. I could see Agatha, Danny, and Ashton discussing
amongst themselves on the shore, but I intentionally tuned them out
of my consciousness. I lifted my head back and gazed at the
millions of stars twinkling brilliantly in the night sky.
    Shortly thereafter, I swam back to shore.
    All three of them hovered around me
again.
    I inhaled deeply. “This is not my night.
Maybe I should go home.”
    Ashton put his hand on my back. “How about we
go out for pizza and see how you feel.”
    “I’m in,” Agatha said adamantly. “You said
your parents and Lucy were going out to the movies. I don’t want
you to be alone.”
    Danny rubbed his stomach in a goofy manner.
And in a low grumbled voice resembling the Cookie Monster from
Sesame Street, he said, “Yum, yum—I want pizza.” With that, he
chortled in a horsy guffaw which made everyone laugh.
    They went with me to return my surfboard to
the shop. The blond guy who asked me out for coffee the day before
was there. When he saw me with good looking Ashton he acted a
little bent out of shape which really surprised me. He had a cocky
attitude with Ashton and acted particularly nice to me in
contrast.
    Nobody said anything about the clerk at the
surf shop until we were on our way. Then as the four of us drove to
the restaurant, Ashton started teasing me. “Everybody’s in love
with Grace. Everybody’s in love with Grace…” he chanted in a
singsong voice.
    “That’s not usual for me,” I half-laughed.
“Typically, I’m a wallflower.”
    Ashton scratched his chin. “Now I know that’s
not true. You bewilder me with your perceptions of yourself. I have
no idea why you are such the loner…”
    “Hey,” Agatha protested. “Grace is hardly a
loner. We’re always together.”
    “You know what I mean,” Ashton continued. “I
just think it’s weird that Grace keeps to herself when she could
easily be a part of the popular crowd.”
    I burst out laughing. “Yeah right,” I
responded sarcastically. “Can we take the focus off of me?” I
didn’t like the way this conversation was going.
    “That’s what’s special about you,” Ashton
said. “You don’t care about being popular. You just do what you
want.”
    “What I want is an entire pizza to
myself.”
    “I want two pizzas,” Danny snorted.
    Agatha giggled. “I want three.” Then both
Agatha and Danny kept laughing and laughing while Ashton and I
rolled our eyes.
    I thought it was nice that Ashton noticed
details about me and saw me in such a positive way, but it made me
uncomfortable for some reason. I just didn’t know how I felt about
him and I didn’t want him to get hurt. The idea of me breaking a
boy’s heart seemed absurd. I couldn’t imagine myself having such an
impact on any guy.
    Mostly, I just couldn’t stop thinking about
how Laurent saved me in the ocean in an unnatural way. As much as I
replayed the event over and over in my mind, I could not figure out
how he swam up to me at such a speed and then cut the rope with his
teeth. No matter what, I could not make sense of it.
    I wasn’t used to all this male interaction.
Until recently, it was rare that any boy paid any attention to me.
I didn’t think I looked