"Wanna go to the waterfall? The water will be nice now that the rain's gone."

Jet is right; the pool at the waterfall is at its best right after the kind of rain we've had on and off today.

"I'm in," Delia says, where she's hiding under Simon's arm, holding onto the hand hanging at her shoulder. "How about you, Sy?"

"Why not?" he grins.

I take a peek at Ethan, surprised that he hasn't responded yet. Usually, he is the first to suggest going to the waterfall and would be hard to stop from going there right away now. He is not saying anything, just quietly holding my hand, staring off into the distance at a land far, far away, over the horizon and down the hills.

"Ethy?"

I wonder if he's still upset about the whole Amber thing. He'd been really quiet all day today; even after the break, he didn't turn any of our classes into anarchy or anything normal like that. Not even in the few classes we shared with Jet and Barn. He quietly did the assigned work and even vaguely seemed to be paying attention to the lessons being taught. That is, of course, not possible at all.

At least his eyes no longer have that dull, sad look to them they had this morning; he just seems preoccupied.

"Dude?!" Barn barks a laugh, slapping him on the back. "Are you sleepwalking?"

Ethan blinks his eyes, grinning a little sheepishly. He really was far away. A large group of his friends are gathered at the gate, saying goodbye to each other. Some are planning on going to the waterfall, while others are not. I'm still waiting to see if Ethan wants to go for a swim.

"Do you wanna go, Kicks?" he asks me, and I really cannot tell what he wants me to answer.

I honestly don't care if I go or not, but I know he never passes up on a chance for a swim. "Sure," I say, smiling up at him, giving his hand a squeeze. What I'd really like to do is sit down and talk to him, see if he is okay, but perhaps a swim will do him some good. The sun is already beating down relentlessly, regretting its decision to retreat all morning, allowing us to have a cold shower or two.

"Okay," Ethan says, grinning at Barn.

"Yeah!" Lurch laughs happily. "Are we going home to change, or are we skinny dipping?"

I roll my eyes and peer up at Ethan to see if he is suffering from the same delusions as his friend. To my surprise, he is once again just staring off into the distance, causing me to feel highly uncomfortable now.

"Actually, Brian," Tonia says, stepping out of Lurch's embrace. "After the kind of rain, we've just had, the lighting in Scarlet Park is just perfect for drawing the sculptures. I really want to go draw them now."

Lurch is looking at his girlfriend as if she'd just spoken to him in some alien language only her species could possibly understand.

"You... want to go to Ghosties?"

Scarlet Park, also known as the children's sanctuary or kiddie park... and, as Lurch just demonstrated, rather insensitively as Ghosties, is a pretty park in the shadow of the mountains. The gardens are well-maintained and lush, filled with trees and flowers, monkey vines and dripping moss. It is one of the most beautiful semi-wild parks in all of Summerfields.

More than a hundred years ago, a heartbroken mother, Eleanor Richford, had a statue of her little girl erected in the sheltered hollow of the mountain in memory of the seven-year-old daughter she'd lost to scarlet fever. According to the stories, the spot between some flowers where the statue was placed used to be the little girl's favourite play zone. Lily Richford's statue is a life-sized replica of her sitting amongst the flowers, playing with her dolls.

Many children were lost during that specific epidemic, and the other grieving parents spontaneously followed Eleanor's example, adding Lily's friends amongst the trees and shrubs, slowly growing the area to become a protected, well-maintained park, filled with statues of lost children taking part in their favourite activities hidden among the plants.

Walking through that park always makes me feel extremely sad, looking at the moss and fern-covered faces of children who are no longer there. I can only imagine the amount of pain a parent must suffer when they lose a child. Stone children are cold comfort, but still, it resulted in a very peaceful, very beautiful garden.

Delia also often likes to go there to draw. I go there to find insects and reptiles and other creepy crawlies.

"Yes, I want to go there to draw," Tonia is giving Lurch an uneasy look. She tilts her chin in slight defiance, but I can see that she is really nervous about his reaction.

"Oh... okay... we can go there..."

"I really want to draw, Brian," she narrows her eyes, trying to see if he gets her meaning. "I don't want to go there to make out or to give you a massage or hold your stuff and make a video while you try to scale the cliffs or play in the brook."

I almost feel sorry for Lurch now; he is completely confused, and the expression on his face borders on despair.

"Are you saying you want to go alone... without me?" Seems to be a completely foreign concept to him.

Tonia smiles, taking his hand in hers. "Not necessarily, but you might get bored, and it's hot, so you should go swimming like you wanted to. We can meet up afterwards."

"Afterwards..." The poor guy is completely baffled now. This is an all-new experience for him. He and Tonia have been together for almost a year now, I think, and apparently, this is the first time she's insisting on doing what she wants to do with our without him. It might be a milestone in their relationship.

"Yes," she strokes the back of his hand, gazing up into his face, and I can see her resolve start to crumble. "I'll do that thing you like so much," she grins, and I am proud of her for deciding to do what she wants to do for a change, despite those fears she voiced on Saturday. I hope those fears were unfounded.

"Which one?" Lurch grins. "There are many things I like."

"We'll see," Tonia laughs and slips her hand from his. "I'll see you later." She rises on her toes to kiss his cheek, says goodbye to all of us and crosses the road to her house, three down from the school gate.

"Did I just get dumped?" Lurch mutters, suddenly looking like a lost little boy. I wish Tonia could see him now; perhaps she'd gain more confidence in their relationship; the guy is clearly not planning on replacing her any time soon. He looks utterly devastated.

"Totally!" Jet guffaws, earning a jab in the ribs from Ethan.

"Dude!" Delia scoffs. "She went off to make some nice drawings. I often do the same thing. Sometimes with Sy, sometimes without him. You're not stuck together with super-glue."

"But you heard what she said," he moans, shoving a big hand through his unruly brown hair, flashing anxious eyes at Jet, who is still laughing, despite Barn, apparently, trying to tackle him to the ground now.

Lurch always cuts his hair very short because if it gains a little length, it starts to curl all over the place. He is nearing the due date for his next haircut, and his fingers are making the curls stand out in random tufts. "She doesn't want to make out and give me massages and stuff... we always do that when we go to Ghosties..."

"Lurch," I frown, shaking my head, taking the hand Tonia just abandoned and giving it an encouraging pat. "You do know that it's hard to draw and do those things at the same time, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"And you do know that Tonia is an actual person with feelings and needs and things she'd like to do on her own?"

"Yeah...?"

Oh, my soul? Did he know? He doesn't seem certain!

"Just come take a swim with us and meet up with her later. It's like Deli said, you're not glued together," Ethan says, taking my hand from Lurch's and giving him a pat on the back, hard enough to make him jump forward a bit.

Seriously, did Ethan really just separate me and his friend? I almost laugh. Surely, he's not afraid that Lurch will desert Tonia and take up with me instead? Or... no! Is he jealous?! Surely not!

"Yeah, sometimes you each need to do your own thing," Delia soothes Lurch. "Sy and I do things without each other all the time."

"Not all the time," Simon frowns, apparently not liking the idea at all. "Just... when we want to do things we can't do together..."

I giggle, seeing Delia give him an indulgent grin before she wraps her arms around his waist. They are just so friggin' cute together; it makes me want to puke.

"She didn't break up with you; just give her some space," James assures Lurch when he is still looking sceptical, his eyes wandering to the gate of his girlfriend's house, where he'd last seen her. He might be on the verge of running over there, but then he finally nods his head, smiling again. I can see that he is still worried, though. Apparently, James, who probably isn't an expert on the matter, as he hasn't had a girlfriend in ages, finally managed to convince the guy that he wasn't dumped.

Actually, James might be an expert. He dated a girl for about three years, but at the beginning of last year, she moved away. They kept in touch for quite some time after that, but Ethan mentioned a while back that she'd moved on to another guy. James was really hurt.

I don't think he is over their break-up yet. It makes me sad. He is a really good guy, and there are so many girls who would love to help him get over Tertia Miller, but he is simply burying himself in rugby, school work and books.

"So, skinny dip?" Lurch prompts, rubbing his hands together, excited now about the prospect of a nice refreshing swim.

"Yeah!" Jet agrees loudly, always game to be an animal.

"We'll meet you there in about 15 minutes," Ethan scoffs, takes my hand and off we go home to get our bathers, like the civilized people we are... sometimes.

♀

I'm surprised when Ethan puts our bags down in the kitchen and doesn't go for the lemonade right away. Instead, he opens his schoolbag and takes out two tins of condensed milk, placing them on the kitchen table.

I give him a look, and he shrugs, grinning at me. "Bought them on my run last night. What else do you need?"

"Nothing," I sigh, shaking my head, admitting defeat. "Actually, Daddy bought some too and a massive block of butter, and we always have plenty of sugar, and there's still more than enough vanilla essence. I was going to make some tonight anyway."

"Awesome! Thanks, Kicks," he gives my ponytail an affectionate yank and hoists his bag onto his shoulder.

"Ethy," I say, grabbing his arm when he is about to open the kitchen door. "We're cool, right?"

For a second, he just looks at me, not saying anything and then, just when I think he is going to say something I'm not going to want to hear, his expression softens into a smile.

"Always, Kicks," he runs a hand over my hair and pulls me into a one-arm hug. "Everything's fine. I promise. Now, go get your bathers on. I'm boiling, I need to cool off, and then we're making fudge!"

"So demanding," I snort, giggling when he spins me around and slaps my bum.

"Run along now, little woman," he chuckles.

"I can see who wants his fudge shoved up his... nose!"

"It's all about the taste; the packaging doesn't matter," Ethan laughs, stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

♂♀