Notice Me (2 page)

I decided I was going to show Anya everything Port Clyde, Maine has
to offer. She is only allowed to stay over for two days, blah. My
cell phone rang just as I finished packing up my beach bag. "You've
reached blondes have more fun. We're unavailable to take your call
right now, but if you leave your message at the sound of
the..."
"Damn right blondes have more fun!" Anya screamed excitedly into
the phone. "I'm around the corner bish. Meet me outside." She
demanded before hanging up on me.
Grabbing my stuff and running down the steps, I locked the door
behind me. My parents left for work this morning so I'm home alone.
I stood on my lawn practically hopping up and down with excitement
as I watched Anya turn the corner wildly in her midnight blue 2012
Honda Accord. A seventeenth birthday gift from her parents for
getting her license.
Lucky her, I still have a full year to go before I'm even allowed
to attempt getting my license. Grr. With nuts like Anya out on the
road, I wasn't so sure I wanted to get my license just yet. From
the right, I could hear a door shut but I didn't pay it any mind.
My eyes were focused on Anya's wild hair blowing in the wind. She
had her sunroof open and all her windows down, dancing and singing
loudly to the music blasting out her system.
Lord help me, she's sure to cause a stir in our quiet suburban
neighborhood. Her personality is the complete opposite of mines,
maybe that's why we get along so well. As she pulled up to the curb
in front of me, her eyes widened in surprise. Then a flirty grin
tugged at her lips as she wiggled her eyebrows at me. It was then
that I noticed a presence standing next to me.
Turning my head to the side, I came face to face with a grinning
Luke and a smirking Tristan. "Hey Lise, who's your pretty friend?"
Luke asked glancing over at Anya.
"Uh, hey." I murmured all of a sudden feeling tense. "Luke and
Tristan, meet Anya." I introduced as I opened up the passenger door
and threw my bag in the backseat.
"Nice to meet you Anya." Tristan and Luke said at the same time.
Although Tristan's eyes never left me.
"Where you headed off to?" Luke asked in curiosity.
"Lise is taking me to the beach." Anya answered for me. "You guys
should come."
I shook my head slightly and glared at Anya with wide eyes. I was
facing her direction with my back to the guys. What is she doing?
What does she mean they should come? People like Tristan Evans and
Luke whatever his last name is don't hang out with girls like
me!
I was social suicide, a complete loner. In a way I wanted them to
say yes they would come, but in a way I didn't want them to laugh
out loud at the absurd idea of hanging out with me...Annalise
Foster at the beach. It would hurt my feelings. Yes, I have
feelings people.
"We'd love to come." Tristan's deep voice said from right behind me
as his hand shot out and grabbed the top of the passenger door I
was leaning on. "Mind if we ride with you? I hope you don't mind,
but I think there'd be more room if you let Luke sit up front. You
and I could sit in the back." He suggested and I all but almost
passed out cold on the floor.
My eyes lit up in surprise that not only did they want to come to
the beach with us, they wanted to ride in the car with us? On top
of that Tristan wanted to sit in the back seat with me? Maybe they
were already headed towards the beach and we were a free ride over
there. Yea that's it, it has to be.

Chapter 2: The Beach
The ride to the beach was pretty awkward to say the least, I could
feel Tristan's intense gaze on me the whole time. To think we've
only been in the car for five minutes tops, it felt like the
longest five minutes of my life. Do I have something hanging out my
nose? Why does he keep staring at me? Self-consciously I ran my
fingers over my face to capture any foreign objects that may have
been hanging.
It was as though his body was emitting heat and funneling it
towards my direction, I was getting really weird vibes. Maybe it's
just me being paranoid; the humidity could be affecting my brain
cells. I was sitting behind Luke and Tristan was behind Anya. Anya
must think she's some sort of gangster thug having her seat set on
the furthest setting. For being the same height I am, she sure
drives like a straight up dude.
Luke had his seat reclined all the way back the same way Anya's
was. Good thing for me, I'm average height. Tristan being lanky had
to sit with his legs apart causing his right knee to brush against
mine, which was angled towards the middle. I was getting really
weird tingling sensations from where our knees barely brushed
against one another, strange.
I didn't dare turn my head to face him as I nonchalantly stared out
my window, pretending to be interested in the scenery. You all know
damn well I couldn't focus on anything but his leg and everything
we passed was just a blur! Anya didn't seem to notice anything out
of the norm as she continued driving to our destination. Luke was
giving her directions on how to get there.
Luke seemed to take an instant interest in Anya and likewise. You
would think they've known one another for years the way they were
both singing along to Katy Perry's Part of Me. "So how do you two
know each other?" Tristan's deep voice came out softly; it managed
to scare the crap out of me, causing me to jump like an
idiot.
I didn't expect him to make conversation with me, seeing how I
already came to the conclusion that we were a free ride to the
beach. He probably couldn't wait to get there and escape as to not
be seen around me. I glanced at him shyly from the corner of my
eyes, turning my head slightly to make sure he was really talking
to me. His intense gray eyes stared at me with anticipation.
Allowing a small smile to escape from my lips, I turned my head
completely in his direction. "We met at music camp four years ago.
We've been best friends ever since." I simply stated. Anya flashed
me a grin over her shoulder when she heard my response. It was
almost as though she was reliving the memory of us meeting.
"She was so quiet and her nose was constantly stuck in a book. One
day I got fed up and finally threw her book in the lake. She got
pissed off and threw my flip-flops in. We screamed at one another
for a while then ended up laughing about the whole situation." Anya
explained before facing forward. "You've come a long way my young
grasshopper."
I laughed at her silliness, Anya brought out the best or shall I
say worse in me. Her wild and crazy personality broke me out of my
shell at camp. She practically forced me to be her friend; I didn't
have much choice in the matter. Looking over at Tristan as I
giggled, it seemed like his eyes lit up, like he was happy. If it's
even possible for his gray eyes to get lighter, then they
did.
Maybe he finds Anya to be funny too. All the guys seem to be
attracted to her, who could blame them? She's gorgeous and
outgoing. "So that's where you disappear to every summer." Tristan
said more as a statement than a question. "Music camp huh? You play
an instrument?"
Whoa...whoa...whoa. What does he mean that's where I disappear to
every summer? It shocked the hell out of me that he even noticed I
was gone during the summer. As far as I knew nobody missed me
during the time I was gone. Heck, I don't even think my parents
would realize I was missing for the entire summer if it wasn't that
they had to pay for camp!
I nodded my head to answer his question, suddenly feeling really
weird. Why all of a sudden has Tristan taken interest in me of all
people? Is this some sort of sick game or bet that he and his
friends have going on? I began developing an uneasy feeling in the
pit of my belly.
"Piano, violin, and guitar." I mumbled quietly. What? I had a lot
of time on my hands with not having many friends...plus my parents
made me take lessons.
"Uh-uh-uh." Anya teased. "Don't leave out the fact that you're a
kick ass singer too."
'Oh hush up and mind your
business'
is what I felt like saying to her. Instead I
just pasted a fake smile and turned back out to face the window. I
hate when someone knows you can sing, first thing out their mouth
is 'Sing me something'...ugh no!
"Wow, that's hot. You girls in a band?" Luke asked turning around
in his seat to glance back at me.
Something about this caused Tristan's entire body to tense up
including his jaw, resulting in me staring at him strangely. Maybe
it was the fact that Luke said our talents were hot? Tristan
probably didn't want me getting the wrong idea that the popular
guys thought nerd girl was in any way cool.
Luke was probably just saying it to get a reaction out of me. Sorry
to disappoint you boys, I'm not one of your fellow groupies. I sure
as heck wasn't going to become obsessed after hanging out with them
once and start following them around like a crazed fan, just
because they paid me a compliment. Sure I thought they were good
looking dudes, but that's as far as it goes. Nothing good will come
out of me thinking we're in any way shape or form...friends.
"I'm an ok vocalist. She's the real star of camp." I affirmed while
sticking my tongue out childishly at Anya, who was staring at me in
the rearview. "Anya's lead vocalist and guitar player in a band." I
said innocently.
She's probably going to kill me as soon as we arrive at the beach
and get out the car. Anya's a closet rockstar; she doesn't like
many people knowing her business. Anya has her select group of
friends at her school in Rockport. She doesn’t get along with too
many people because her straight forward, tell them like it is
attitude caused them to think she's bitchy. She's far from it, just
a tough exterior. Deep down inside she's a real softy. Shh, don't
tell her I told you, she’d kick my butt. She'll be a senior this
year too.
Just as I said that, she pulled into a parking spot at the beach.
Crap, I should prepare to die now. Either that or try and run for
my life. As you all know I'm not a runner, so guess it'll be death
for me! I could see the smirk spread across Anya's lips as she took
her key out the ignition and turned in her seat to face me. "You
better hope you didn't bring a book with you or out into the ocean
it goes for putting me out there like that." She whispered evilly
causing the guys to laugh.
We all got out the car and I couldn't help but stretch my arms up
in the air. Boy, that was one tense car ride. Immediately upon our
arrival I noticed a big group of people off to one side on the
beach. Some were playing volleyball, while others were just
lounging around.
In that group I recognized the same guys that were over Tristan's
yesterday Sam, Gabe, Max, and Jordan. Surprise, surprise there's a
group of the popular females from our school there too. See, told
you they were only using us for the ride.
"Yo Tris, Luke. Over here." Sam called out waving his hand up in
the air motioning for them to go join the group.
This caused the crowd to look over in our direction, so to save the
boys the embarrassment of being seen arriving with us. I quickly
grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Running around to the
other side of the car, I grabbed a hold on Anya's hand and
practically dragged her towards the other end of the beach.
"What the hell, Lise? What's your rush?" Anya said breathlessly
trying to match my strides to get away from them.

"Nothing, just want to get my tan on, that's all." I answered
simply.
"I know you're lying Lise, what's up? Why are you running away from
them?" Anya huffed. "I kind of thought we'd join 'em."
"Are you insane, join them?" I huffed in exasperation. "I'm pretty
sure that's the last thing they'd want. I'm positive they would
have extended the invite in the fifteen-minute car ride over here
if they did. Did they? No, so I rest my case."
Scouting the sand for a nice spot to lay down my blanket, I felt
someone grab my arm from behind. It sent shocks and a tingling
sensation from where they grabbed all the way down my fingertips.
Jerking my arm away in shock, I spun around a little too quickly
and smacked right into a rock hard chest. Where my face hit, sent
tingles all over too. What the heck is wrong with me?
Two muscular hands grabbed a hold of my upper arms to steady me,
sending shockwaves throughout my entire body. Was I possibly
experiencing heat stroke? Can it be dehydration from the intense
temperatures? Blinking my eyes rapidly, I tilted my head upwards.
Staring back at me was the face of an angel. An angel with gray
eyes.
"Hey, uh you girls just kind of ran off back there." Tristan began
as he let go of me, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck
nervously. "We didn't get a chance to thank you for the
ride."
I took a couple steps back to put some distance between us. From
what I could see his expression mirrored hurt when I did that. I
really need to get in the water and cool down, I'm seriously
beginning to see things.
"Oh don't mention it." Anya said looking up from her place on the
towel. That's what I love so much about her, she's a go with the
flow type of girl and she never lets anything bother her. She was
already laid out comfortably in her red two-piece. Her Ipod plugged
into it's docking station blaring out music.
When the freak did she have time to do all that? How long was I
entranced in Tristan's spell? I didn't even lay down my towel yet.
"I was wondering if you wanted to join us over there?" Tristan
offered glancing over his shoulder at his friends. It was a sweet
gesture, but I'm sure it’s a pity offer.
"Thanks, but no thanks. We'll be fine over here." I assured him
while setting down my towel and pulling out my bottle of sunscreen
spray. I don't have the faintest clue what came over me next that
caused me to so boldly yank my summer dress up and over my head
exposing my black two-piece. My only explanation is that it had to
be the heat.
That action alone earned me a few whistles from some basketball
players who happened to be walking by. The type of boys that will
be juniors this year, in the proper grade I belong to. I didn't pay
the boys any mind. It's not like they know who the heck I am now
that they see me in a bathing suit outside of school anyway. They
didn't recognize me as the quiet nerd, just yet.
Once again, Tristan's entire stature changed from relaxed to
uptight. He looked like he was ready to pummel the guys who just
whistled at me. "Can we talk?" Tristan asked gruffly as he motioned
with his head for us to step away from Anya. What's his problem all
of a sudden?
I mindlessly followed him; he's probably going to give me some
warning about those guys. Which I won't need of course, because I
know the basketball team is nothing but a bunch of players. They
think us girls don't know about the running bet they have on who
can score with the most girls before winter break. It's sick if you
ask me, the winning prize for them is a hundred bucks. What a bunch
of jerks.
I stood in front of Tristan staring at him expectantly. "What's
with the sudden change in looks?" He asked abruptly catching me off
guard.
My face scrunched up as I stared at him in confusion. Where is he
going with this? "Excuse me?" I asked a bit baffled.
"Why the sudden change of appearance?" He asked again a bit more
slowly this time. Who the hell does Tristan Evans think he is
asking me why I changed the way I look?
It's not like he cared before, so why act like he gave a crap about
me now? Prior to today and yesterday, I think Tristan's spoken a
grand whopping total of twenty words to me all my life! This is
some sort of Guinness World Record that he's conversing with me,
let alone being seen in public with me. Of course my defenses
immediately went up.