My family did everything right. They justdidn’t see the level of desperation that I kept at bay. I neverwanted anyone in California to know how badly I wanted to be backin Hawaii because I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Joke’son me now.
I text Leilani, and she asks me to meet heroutside. I wonder if her brother knows she’s taking me along withher and her friends tonight. Her parents probably wouldn’t approveeither. I peek out the window before I dare to step outside, incase her siblings are with her. The last thing I want is to dragLeilani down with my bad reputation.
When the coast looks clear and safe, I hurryoutside toward her car. She waits in the driver’s seat, smilinglike this is normal, like it’s just old times and not dangerous. Iget in, close the door, and keep my face toward the floorboard.
“Ninja moves,” she says. “I don’t think I’veever seen anyone get in a car that quickly.”
“The circumstances aren’t desirable,” Iadmit. “I’ve had cameras following me around for the last month orso. First in Cali, now here. Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”
She backs her car out of the drivewayimmediately. “No turning back,” she says, the moonlight streakingacross her skin through the windshield. “You need to get out anywayfor something other than community service. Life goes on, youknow.”
She flips through the radio stations, unableto settle on anything in particular, while we ride in an awkwardsilence. I debate asking questions, but my confidence is at an alltime low. I’ve never been this quiet and unsure of myself. Talkingto girls was never a problem when I could pretend I was a HawaiianCasanova, but now I’m the guy in the mugshot. It’s a differentworld.
“So, um, are your friends meeting us there?”I ask. “Wherever we’re going?”
“Actually, they’re not coming,” sheadmits.
A long sigh exits my mouth. “Well. Can’t sayI blame them. I wouldn’t want to be around me either,” I say.
It’s all true. I can’t blame anyone forkeeping their distance from me. That photo of A.J.’s car was inevery newspaper and on every surf forum. I’m sure the news channelsair it here just as they did back in Cali. Even if I had nothing todo with A.J.’s wreck, that car is the image tied to this scandal,and my name is in every article.
But it still hurts. This isn’t who I am.This isn’t who I want people to see.
“I didn’t invite them,” Leilani says. Shesteers her car into a parking lot near a beach. “It’s not becauseof your reputation, either. I wanted to hang out with you like oldtimes, and I was afraid you would say no if you thought it was justus because you’re trying to protect my image.”
I don’t say anything as I take in thesurroundings. I’ve been here before, years ago, as a kid. I waswith my parents, and Leilani’s siblings were here too. We wanted toexplore the caves, but our parents said we were too small, and theywanted to spend a day on the beach, not indulging Leilani’sdaydreams of mermaids actually existing.
“This is Starlight Cavern,” I say, ignoringher admission that she didn’t invite her friends along. “We alwayssaid we’d come back here.”
“I’ve been here a few times,” she says,pointing out toward the actual caves. “It’s really pretty. Thewaterfalls are amazing. But any time I came out here, I alwaysthought of you, and it felt wrong to explore when you weren’t here.Silly, I know. Childhood promises shouldn’t be takenseriously.”
I wish I could go back to the days ofchildhood, where the most important thing was finding out ifmermaids were real and if dolphins could talk to them. We oncespent an entire afternoon at the public library combing throughfolklore books in hopes of finding something substantial. Wethought if we proved our point, our parents would have to let ussearch the caves.
“They’re closed this late at night,” shesays, glancing back toward me. “You know, safety precautions. Idon’t want to risk getting you in trouble, but we can still go downto the beach.”
Sometimes, growing up, I wondered if Leilaniwas actually a mermaid, like it was her deep dark secret and shewas dying to tell me but couldn’t, and all of this folklore andlegend talk was her way of hinting something bigger to me.
I know better now, but I still secretly hopeshe’s the siren who can save me.
Chapter Ten – Leilani
I grab a large beach towel from my backseat,and we make our way down toward the sand. He helps me spread it outon the ground and kicks off his flip-flops before sitting andstaring out at the ocean.
“It’s nice to see it so empty out there,” Isay, stretching my legs out next to him. “During the day, thisplace is covered with tourists and surfers and kids running aroundon the beach. It’s not what it was when we were growing up.”
He laughs. “Tourism isn’t the worst thing.Crescent Cove was pretty much a tourist town, but that’s what leadsyou to places like Horn Island,” he says. “It’s not a place you puton a postcard, but it has depth. Gritty. Real. I don’t think Hawaiieven has places like it.”
“Do you miss it?” I ask. I’m not sure if Iwant the real answer to that.
He nods, slowly. “Yeah, actually, I do. ButI missed it here too,” he says. “I wanted to have both, and now Ihave neither. I don’t think I even realized how much I lovedCalifornia until I was so deep with the Burkses that I couldn’tfind my way out.”
“What really happened?” I ask, forcingmyself to look toward him. “How did you get involved? Why you?”
“Are you sure you want to hear this?” heasks.
“Yes, from the beginning,” I say.
He starts from the day his friend Tophersent a letter to the Burkses with nothing more than the name ‘ColbyTaylor’ written in chicken-scratch handwriting. Nothing happenedfor a while, and eventually everyone moved along and forgot.
“We thought maybe the address was wrong orthey never received it, but one day, this number I didn’t knowcalled my phone, and I answered it because I figured maybe it wassomeone I’d given my number to at one
