Chapter One
Cliff Diving Gone Wrong
It was humid. The air hung in the sky like syrup, making everything sticky. And it was hot, a miserable 102° F that suffocated even the most avid sunbather and made the heat roll off of the sandy pavement in waves. It was never this hot at the beach. It was like this in Georgia, sure, but not in Southern California. Mother nature was supposed to bless the California coastline with reasonable temperatures and drier heat that made it wonderful to be outside, not the unnatural highs and steadily rising barometer that makes people wish they were dead.
It was September sixth, the day before school began again, and, in Newport Beach, most teenagers were out shopping for this year’s “must haves” at the upscale shopping malls and trendy boutiques that defined the wealthy areas of Orange County. But Brigid Parks was not like most girls at Newport Harbor High School. Unlike them, she didn’t spend her Daddy’s money on Prada handbags or Jimmy Choo stilettos that she’d never wear. She didn’t drive a Mercedes Benz convertible or buy Cartier diamonds for her friends’ birthdays. She felt guilty when she paid more than $50 for anything; when her parents bought her a Mac Book for her 16th birthday, she broke down and cried. She didn’t spend hours in a salon every week for manicures and facials or what not, No. Unlike them, she didn’t care about appearances.
She didn’t need to- Brigid was lucky. She was pretty without the assistance of plastic surgery or a personal stylist. She wasn’t skinny; she was what everyone but Hollywood considered a perfect Five foot ten inches and 154 pounds. She wore size ten shoes, and size 9 dresses. Her parents’ friends always told her she had classic features that made her beautiful. She had moss green eyes that sometimes looked blue. She had slightly oily olive skin that allowed her to go out in the sun without an unheard of SPF level. She had auburn chestnut hair that was naturally curly and hung in loose ringlets to her waist. She spent only a half hour getting ready everyday, because anyone who woke up at 4:30 am to get ready for high school was missing out on life. And unlike her procrastinating peers, she had gone shopping way in advance.
So Brigid was spending her last day of freedom reading at Pirate’s Cove. She liked to read. She thought that the lives and actions of fictional characters were much more admirable than what went on around her. But as the day grew hotter, Brigid was seriously considering swimming out to the rocks and spending some of her time jumping off of them. Cliff diving was one of the things she dreamed of doing when she joined the “world of adults”, and even the meager height of the ones at the cove seemed to make that aspiration more possible. It gave her a little thrill to imagine that instead of the six-foot drop to the water, it was 35 feet of air between the water below and a waterfall in Mexico. She set aside her novel and waded into the bay, taking special care to look out for jellyfish because it was so warm. Once the water reached her mid thigh, she dove in, relishing the feel of the ocean waves against her overheated skin. Brigid came up for air with a sigh of pleasure.
She swam to the rocks in confident, swift strokes. Making sure the tide was high enough to jump off without breaking a leg, Brigid submerged herself underwater and sank to the sandy bottom. Reaching above her to test the water level, she was reassured when her fingertips never left the cool water. Satisfied that it was deep enough to jump, Brigid climbed up upon the rocks. Avoiding as much of the bird poop left by the seagulls as possible, she made her way up to the protruding lip of the rock formation.
She was readying herself to jump when he came, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. If she was considered the oddest person in school, then Calen Jennings was her complete opposite. He played football and baseball and he was unanimously considered the most popular guy on campus. He was tall, a sexy six foot five inches that always made her feel small. He had raven hair and blue eyes that stood out like neon lights on a dark night. And he had a smile that melted anyone’s heart, complete with dimples. She had had a crush on him since fourth grade, and he had never said or done anything to acknowledge she existed. Today, his normal posse of jocks followed him like always, and all of them loudly commented to every female they passed. They descended the staircase to the cove and Brigid’s only thought was to jump in and start swimming away from them as fast as possible. She flung herself off the rocks and plunged under the water.
It was then that she realized she’d hit one of the stray rocks found around the jump and came up for air screaming. As blood gushed from her foot, all she could think was “thank God the bay is too shallow for sharks.” And then, suddenly, though she was exerting none of her own energy, she was moving through the water. And while it must have registered in her mind that someone must be moving her, the only someone who came into mind was a great white shark. She couldn’t do anything except wail in pain and terror, so as Brigid and her rescuer approached the beach, he leisurely picked her up and half swim, half carried her to shore. Within seconds she was laid down on the beach and circled by a group of laughing athletes.
Once Brigid’s senses returned to her enough to realize that she was safe on a beach instead of ripped to pieces in the middle of the bay, she was suddenly mortified. Because the only reason such a large group of teenage boys would pay any attention her would be because she was the attention of their leader, Calen Jennings. And the thought that she had screamed madly while he had dragged her to shore just put the icing on the cake of her humiliation.
“ Your bleeding is beginning to stop,” Calen told her. It was then that she realized Calen was bending over her much too close for comfort. He was inspecting her all over, and Brigid couldn’t tell whether he was looking for other injuries or her feminine attributes. In between spasms of pain she was furious with herself and the situation.
“ I could carry you to the lifeguard tower and see if they have anything to clean the cut with,” Calen offered. It was strange to her, he was acting as if she was the most important thing in the world, and she was suspicious.
“I’ll be alright. Thank you gentlemen for your help, I’m just going to head home.” She struggled to her feet and limped slowly to her towel and book, lifted them, and limped to the stairs. She got up three stairs before Calen had lifted her and was carrying her up the staircase.
‘What are you doing?” she asked in a whisper.
“I’m helping you.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Like hell you don’t! You’ll just spend a half hour wobbling up these stairs and across the rocks until you get to your car and then you’ll be all good, am I right?” She nodded. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s not going to happen while I’m here and able to carry you.” He looked at her and then at what she was gripping so tightly in her hands.
“What are you reading?” he asked.
“Obviously, I’m not reading anything.”
“What were you reading?”
“Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.”
Calen only grunted. Brigid remained silent. Calen carried her easily and it distressed her infinitely. She didn’t know why. But then she didn’t know why he was making such a fuss over her either. She doubted he even knew who she was. If he did, he wouldn’t be carrying her over the cliffs that led to the cove.
“My car is over there, the blue mini cooper.” She told him.
“Nice.” He replied. “Manual or automatic?” he asked.
“Manual.” She told him, wondering why he asked.
“Humm.” Calen put her down next to her car and studied it. It was midnight blue, a blue so dark it was almost black upon first glance. She had had tiny silver stars detailed on the sides and the back with bigger ones on her front hood. On her rearview mirror hung a silver star and moon pendant. She opened the door and climbed in. She slammed the door and rolled the window down. She started the ignition and he heard the telltale bass of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” starting on her sound system.
She looked up at him and said, “Thank you Calen,” before smiling up at him, putting her car in second gear, and driving away.
