"I won't lie to you, Ana, you look exhausted," Ellie said when we met. She examined me as we stood opposite each other on the quayside. "Also, have you been eating enough? Let's grab some food."

I just shook my head. "I'm fine. I'm not sleeping that great, but I can deal with that."

"You're not – oh." She clearly remembered why I wasn't. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do to help? My mum's a bit of a hippie and she has these essential oils–"

"No, that's okay," I said, holding a hand up. "I don't think oils would do anything. Anyway, I just – I wanted to see you."

Ellie smiled. "I'm glad you texted me. I... I've been wanting to see you as well, I just didn't want to, you know, push you."

I felt a real surge of affection for Ellie. She was so intuitive. "Thank you. I know I've disappeared for the last couple of weeks."

"You don't need to explain anything, Ana," she said sincerely. "You take as much time as you need."

I let out a breath and before I knew it Ellie was pulling me in for a hug. It took me a second but I hugged her back.

"So, let's go get some coffee or something," she said when we separated. "Unburden all of your worries onto me. That's what I'm here for."

We began to walk along the quayside, and I thought to myself. "Well, okay. I want to get your opinion on something." I blew out a breath. "What do you think about me moving out and getting my own flat when I'm 18?"

Ellie pressed her lips together and tilted her head. "You want to get your own flat at 18?"

I nodded. I could practically see the cogwheels spinning in her mind. "I just - I love Alice and her family, but I don't want to be a burden. Its annoying having someone that's not your family being in your house constantly."

"Ana, I'm sure they think of you as family. And they definitely don't think of you as a burden." She twirled a strand of hair around her finger thoughtfully. "You sure you wouldn't stay there?"

"I just... I'd really like to get to place of my own." I leaned against the barrier enclosing the promenade and glanced out at the sea. "Having my own space, you know?" When Ellie didn't say anything, I glanced over to see her looking a bit unsure. "So what do you think?"

"It's just..." She paused, and I knew she was thinking about wording what she had to say very carefully. "It's just, are you sure you want to live on your own?"

"I think I'll be fine," I said sharply, and then regretted it immediately. "I mean... I'm sure I'll be fine. I appreciate the concern, though, I do." I put my hand on her shoulder to show her I was sincere, and she smiled, but it didn't look entirely genuine.

"Have you actually told Alice?" she asked cautiously.

I bit my lip, realising I hadn't. And I would probably need to start looking soon. "Nope. Maybe you can help me with that."

"Ooh, fun. Can't wait. If you do decide that's what you wanna do, I'll help you pick out a flat. But you should think about it first. Consider your options, you know?"

I sighed quietly. "Yeah. Sure." I didn't really need to think about it, I knew I wanted to move out. But I'd humour Ellie. "Anyway. You know I bumped into Sam the other day on the bus? Gave him 'the talk'?"

Ellie gave me a look. "You didn't."

"I did," I said slightly smugly. And so we strolled through the town, grabbed coffee, talking about anything and everything, and I was so distracted that I almost forgot I had work. When I realised, I said goodbye to Ellie and rushed home to change and head in to Melissa's. Alice was the only one awake and in the kitchen. She was busy cooking breakfast in her pyjamas, and she glanced over when I came in.

"Hey, been for a run?" she questioned, flipping over a piece of bacon in the frying pan.

"Yeah, but just realised I've got work in..." I checked my watch. "Half an hour. Shit, I need to shower and change." I ran upstairs hearing Alice laughing downstairs.

After the quickest shower known to mankind, I put on the café uniform and rushed out of the house - shouting a quick goodbye to Alice - to catch the bus just as it was about to leave. Any transport for me now was the bus or getting someone else to drive me - I'd said goodbye to my car not long after I'd moved in with the Moores, and honestly, it had been sad. I'd grown quite attached to it.

To my disappointment, Grace wasn't working today, so I was mostly stuck with Millie. There were other people there, but they kept more to themselves and worked as waiters rather than behind the counter. I sighed quietly but just decided I would get on with it. Besides, Millie wasn't that bad.

As I was making a latte for a customer, Millie came and stood by me to also use the coffee machine. "So," she said, surprising me by actually talking to me. "How well do you know Joseph?"

I frowned suspiciously. She'd never brought up Joseph since the day we met, but she was now, and her question felt like some kind of test, like she was trying to somehow one-up me. "Not that well. I just happen to be living with him."

"Right. You're Alice's friend." Her voice was slightly patronising. I ignored her and finished making the latte, putting it onto the counter where the customer picked it up with a nod of thanks. I went back to the till and took the order of another customer, hoping to escape Millie, but she was still following me.

"You're still at school, right?" she said as I went back to the coffee machine, while she ignored the other customers in order to question me. "You know Joseph's leaving soon, to go on a gap year? I am, too. We were almost going to be going to the same places at the same time, but unfortunately, we're just missing each other. It's a shame, really, because, you know, what happens on a gap year, stays on a gap year." Her half-smile was an annoying mix between smug and condescending, but the comments she made really couldn't have bothered me less.

I sighed deeply. "Millie, there are customers waiting to be served."

She just kept smiling that same smile, like a predator waiting to pounce on their prey. "What, don't want to talk about it? Don't want to admit that you're into him?"

I knew she was baiting me, trying to get me to snap or admit something. Not that there was anything to admit. "I'm just busy. You know, working, like you should be. If you want to talk about the massive crush you so obviously have on Joseph, go talk to someone else." Damn it. The way Millie's smile widened at this made me realise that that was she was hoping for me to say, because it made me seem like I was jealous. I wasn't. Joseph had also implied that I was jealous. It was all so ridiculous that it made me just want to 'accidentally' spill coffee on Millie out of pure frustration.

Millie didn't say anything after that. She looked me up and down before flouncing off to flirt with some customer. I rolled my eyes. I could deal with Millie. She was no worse than annoying girls at school, and I'd been dealing with them for years.

It seemed that Millie still wasn't done with me, because come my break, she just happened to have one at the same time.

"So, are you going to keep being this evasive?" she said as I was trying to peacefully eat my lunch whilst sitting outside and watching the ocean. "Come on, you can tell me." Millie sat down next to me, stretching her long, tanned legs out that I admit did cause me to be a bit jealous. I was one of those people who tended to burn more than tan, so I was never able to build up a golden glow. Fake tan was the way for me.

I closed my eyes for a second in annoyance. "Why are you so interested in my relationship with Joseph? Can't you just stop with all the questions?"

"Nope," Millie said, popping the 'p' as she shielded her eyes from the low sun. "I just don't believe you when you say you don't like Joseph."

"Well, I don't," I said in frustration. Maybe if I stopped replying to her she would stop talking to me. That seemed like a good method in theory, but even though I kept quiet, Millie kept talking.

"You know, I'm really close with Joseph, but there are a some things about him even I don't know." I wasn't really sure what point she was trying to make here, but I kept looking away as if I wasn't listening. "He's a bit of a closed book. So don't think that you'll be the one to get through to him, because you won't," Millie said in a sharp tone.

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that at all."

She gave a puff of amusement. "Sure you don't. Come on, he's mysterious, sultry, he draws you in."

I ignored her, eating my sandwich faster so I could get back inside sooner. Millie sighed loudly. "Fine. I'll stop. But seriously, I do care about Joseph." Her face turned sombre. "He's had a hard time. Don't hurt him." She stood up briskly and went back inside.

I watched her go, biting my lip. That was a strange turn of events. I finished my lunch and threw my rubbish in the bin before getting back to work. I busied myself behind the counter, not leaving myself any time to think about Joseph or Millie or my parents or anything. What Millie had said about Joseph having a hard time reminded me of the conversation Joseph and I had last night, and what Grace had said about what happened at that boarding school. I shook my head as if to clear it. That wasn't my business, so I wouldn't dwell on it. 

Instead, I forced myself to chat to my friends when they all dropped by to see me, and I tried not to let Millie's snarky comments or dirty looks get to me. At the end of my shift, I didn't feel like going back to Alice's house, so I meandered down to the harbour. This was something I'd been meaning to do for a while now, but I could never bring myself to do it. But here I was, forcing myself to walk between the boats, every step more difficult than the last. Only suddenly I saw something that made me stop in my tracks. It was a boat. But it wasn't just any boat. On the side, in shiny red writing, was the word 'Helena'. My feet were moving towards it before I even decided to walk over, and as I reached the boat, I could feel my heart beating louder and faster. I stopped right by it, slowly bringing my hand up to run my fingers over the word 'Helena'. My eyes started to burn with tears, and I bit down hard on my lip.

"Hey!"

I spun round to see a boy striding purposefully towards me, looking irritated. I frowned at him, the tears dissolving and anger taking their place as I saw the outraged expression on the boy's face.

"You shouldn't just go around touching people's boats," he said, fuming, coming to a stop barely an inch away. I flinched at the proximity.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, gritting my teeth. "It's just – I thought this boat was destroyed in a boating accident a few weeks ago."

No reply. I looked up to see the boy staring at me quizzically, before realisation dawned on his face and he suddenly looked extremely guilty. "Oh, um, are you Liliana?"

Confused, I nodded.

He rubbed his face regretfully. "Sorry. I – uh, was it your parents who, um..."

I nodded again, fixing my gaze to the ground.

He cleared his throat. "There was another boat destroyed in the accident called Helena. This is its... sister, if you will. It's actually my boat."

"I guessed," I said, still looking down.

"Yeah. Um, your parents rented the boat from our family. This one used to be in another harbour, as another family was using it, but um, when the one here was destroyed, we uh, brought this one around. Because, um, we like having a boat here, you know?" He stopped talking suddenly, as if embarrassed by his rambling. "I'm Harry," he finally introduced himself. "So, Liliana–."

"It's actually–" I was about to say Lily, but I stopped myself. For some reason, it felt wrong anyone else calling me Lily apart from Joseph. I'd just got so used to the nickname that I almost forgot everyone else called me Ana. "It's Ana. Just Ana."

"Okay, well, Ana, I feel like..." Harry sighed, scratching his head self-consciously. "I feel like I should apologise."

"For shouting at me to get my hands off your boat?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure those weren't my exact words." He smiled to show he was joking. "But no, I wanted to say I'm sorry about your parents, and I'm sorry it happened on our boat."

I pressed my lips together. In my mind I was thinking that he should be sorry – of course it was his fault, if he hadn't rented out his stupid boat to my parents, they would still be here, and I would be happy. But that kind of thinking wasn't going to get me anywhere. So I forced myself to say, "It's okay. It wasn't your fault." It was his fault. I glanced at the sun as it began to dip below the sea. "I should be getting going. But, um, it was nice meeting you." Kind of. Not really. I gave a half-hearted goodbye wave before beginning to leave the harbour, only I was stopped by him shouting after me, "Wait!"

I turned as he reached me, not sure why he was following me. "Yeah?"

"Uh, let me walk you to wherever you're going," he offered, and I sighed internally. I was not up for small talk, but I didn't want to be rude.

"I'm just going to the bus stop," I told him, already walking in that direction.

"Great. I love bus stops."

I gave him a weird look, but he just grinned at me. He reminded me a bit of an eager, high-strung puppy. A yellow Labrador puppy, if I was being specific, since he was blonde. Cute, too. "If you say so."

"So, where do you live? Not that I'm a stalker or anything," he assured me.

"Uh, about ten minutes away by bus. Well, I don't live there. I'm staying with my friend Alice."

"Alice Moore?" Harry questioned curiously.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Yeah. You know her?"

"Not really, but didn't she used to date Dylan Perry?"

I stiffened. "Briefly. He was a jerk."

"Really?" He sounded surprised. "That's not what I was told."

I forced myself to keep my voice even and not let anger into it. "Are you friends with him?"

"Yeah. But from what he told me, she was the one who broke his heart."