"What do you want, Betty?" Julie asked, her tone leery.
"Absolutely nothing from you," Betty said and then grinned. "So you're the legendary Serene. Rumor has it you're killing it on the skateboard."
"I don't know about that."
"I do. Saw you do a 360 the other day. I'm Bets, by the way."
"Sup." Serene squinted back, a drop of sweat falling from her eyelash and stinging her eye. "I'm going to head in." Serene gestured toward the water.
"Me too." Bets dropped her bag down.
"I'm not watching that," Julie said.
Bets gave her the finger and followed Serene into the water. The momentary shock of cold made Serene catch her breath as she stepped into the placid low tide, but she continued to wade further until she was up to her shoulders and could duck under the mild ripples coming at them. When she came up, Bets was floating on her back, still smiling. She flipped over, treading water, and the two sized each other up.
"How do you know them?" Serene asked.
"Taylor, I've known since kindergarten. She was a spoiled brat then and still is. Made my life hell until about high school when I finally got a backbone and started giving her back some of her own medicine. Julie, she's alright as far as lame-ass shallow bitches go."
Serene laughed. "That ain't a compliment, sis."
"Who says I was giving out compliments? It's more like a who's who of Culver City High School assholes and Julie's, like, no one to get too worked up about. Entitled, self-indulgent, sure, but she's not going out of her way to be mean like her BFF Taylor."
"And Steve?"
Bets wiped the water off her face. "Steve's cool. Why he decided to go out with Taylor makes me wonder, though."
"Wonder what?"
Bets laughed and dove under the water, her white legs splashing up before she reemerged. "If he’s sane," she said with a teasing smile. Then she waved toward shore and Serene watched Steve stride through the tame break until he was in deep enough to swim toward them. When he reached Bets and Serene, Bets took the heel of her hand and pushed against the water's surface, splashing him in the face. He dove under the water and Bets suddenly disappeared under the small lapping waves with a yelp. Serene realized that Steve had grabbed her legs next. By the time she made it back up, he'd already put several yards between them with powerful freestyle strokes. Serene took off after him, Bets following. He dove under, disappearing from view, and then Serene felt something up against her belly. Steve was coming back up, grabbing her around the waist. She struggled and they became intertwined in each other's arms. Serene felt alive and surging with strength, invincible in her youth, the cold water and hot sun a tonic for the homesickness that had threatened to engulf her earlier. They played in the water for a good half hour, only returning to shore when Taylor and Julie decided to join them. Serene watched the two girls gingerly make their way into the water, shrieking at each little wave that came at them.
A rouge mark of a burn colored Taylor's left cheek, the ends of her hair trailing in the choppy water. "Hi babe," she called out to Steve, a smile flickering on her lips, her eyes darting from Serene to Bets and back again. Steve flipped his mop of wet hair off his face. Expressionless he swam back to the beach. Taylor's arms moved back and forth in the current and she rolled her eyes, which were beginning to fill with tears. Seconds later, she completely submerged herself and came back up, smoothing her hair back.
"You okay?" Julie asked in a low voice.
"Whatever, yeah, totally fine." Taylor smiled, nostrils flaring before diving back under again.
It was over that day between Steve and Taylor.
Serene and Steve went home in Bets’ car. Steve sat in the back, glaring pensively out his open window, the wind whipping at his wet locks, David Bowie's Heroes blasting from the radio. Serene closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her.
Steve and Taylor. Finished.
Just. Like. That.
18
Dora - February 2020
The scream. It lifted the hair on her body. She knew Cedar fell before she saw the empty ledge where he'd been a second before, Krista scolding him to come away. Serene lunged across the pool, knocking her shin hard against a stone embedded in the earth of the swimming hole. It split her skin wide open, but she felt nothing. She shrieked her brother's name. Krista made it to the cliff edge before Serene could, sinking to her knees, bending over. The second scream was Krista's. Nonchalant, never-bothered-to-get-worked-up-about-anything Krista. That second scream came at Serene like a hatchet, psychically cleaving her in half, numbness flooding through her bloodstream. Krista wouldn't let her near where Cedar had fallen.
"He might still… We have to get down there."
Her memories. Fast snapshots of time. Krista is here. Krista is there. Scrambling up the embankment. Looking up at Krista's bikini-clad bottom. Flabby thighs puckered with fat as she climbs the steep trail with a strength and speed Serene never knew she had.
There is a different trail they have to take to the ocean.
Ramani is with them now.
Aarav is running ahead.
"He fell."
"What? What?" Ramani's hands grasp Krista's arm. Face unrecognizable. Her mother lets go of Krista and sprints after Aarav.
"Stay here!" Krista yelled to Serene, running after them.
But Serene didn't.
She didn't stay.
She went.
Cedar.
Cedar!
Her scream sent her shooting up to a sitting position, body damp and chilled from cooled sweat. For a moment, she couldn’t make out where or how. It was her room, but it was wrong. She was on a futon––not her futon––and there was something big in the corner. The door opened, light flooding
