The Shore by Todd Strasser

Author:Todd Strasser
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2007-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

April was watching TV when her roommates started to come into the house. Something was wrong. Owen and Avery were soaking wet and shivering even though it was a hot day, water dripping from them in rivulets. Owen looked white, and Sabrina and Polly were hovering close to him as if he might teeter over at any moment. The two boys Sabrina took care of were trailing behind them. Avery’s eyes were red, and April could tell that some of the drops on her cheeks were tears, not seawater.

Fred, who had been in the downstairs bathroom double-checking the plumbing, came out to see what was going on.

“What happened?” April asked.

“Owen nearly drowned,” Sabrina said.

“Avery went to save him and she nearly drowned,” Polly added.

“And Lucas saved both of us,” Avery finished. Her face was flushed, and her eyes were puffy. Scratches on her neck oozed little droplets of blood. April had a brief vision of kissing Curt, and with it came some of the most intense guilt she’d ever felt. What had she been thinking?

“I’d be dead meat without those two,” Owen said, looking grim and coughing.

“Seriously, I probably would have drowned if Avery hadn’t gotten there when she did. And then it would have been both of us if Lucas hadn’t shown up. I swear this is it, I’m going to stop drinking.”

“You went into the water . . . drunk?” April asked in disbelief.

“You believe it?” Owen chastised himself. “Like it was just waves, right? Who thinks about riptides? I swear, not another drop of liquor will ever touch these lips.”

“Owen, please,” Sabrina scoffed.

“You’ll see,” Owen said, and April definitely heard a determination in the words that had not been there before.

The front door opened and Lucas trudged in, looking shaken and pale. Like the others, he, too, was shivering. Without a word he crossed the living room and started to open the door to the downstairs bathroom.

“Lucas?” April had never seen him like that before.

“Sorry, right now I need a hot shower,” Lucas muttered, and closed the door behind him. A second later they heard the shower start to run.

April watched as Avery gazed longingly at the bathroom door. “Can you believe that?” Avery said in a low voice. “He just saved two lives and all he can say is he wants to take a shower.”

The memory of coming out of the ladies’ room at The Seashell and seeing Avery and Lucas embracing was still fresh in April’s mind. That girl is head over heels, April thought. I wonder if she even knows it.

Sabrina left to take the boys home and the others started to go to their rooms to wash up. April climbed the stairs quietly. She took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. She felt weird. Just now, being in the same room with Avery made her feel awful. She knew she’d done a bad thing with Curt and wished she could ask Avery’s forgiveness. Feeling at loose ends, she tried to turn some of her thoughts into poetry in her notebook.

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