Page 57 of Heal For Me

“Mon?”

Monica pulls her sunglasses down and shoots me a duh look before jumping up and removing her large hat and glasses.

There is something about swimming that brings out the child inside. Especially when there is a waterslide involved.

“Come on, Mika!” Monica and I cheer.

Like a little mouse, she squeaks. Janelle encourages her from behind, and they decide to go down together. Janelle slips behind her, and they’re off and splashing into the water a second later.

The pool has cleared out some, so we can swim around where we please until lunchtime.

Every time I get out of the pool, my leg is stiff but it’s crazy the progress I’ve made the last few months. I actually forget all about it sometimes. Other days, it’s stiff and aches, but after some stretching, it’s usually better. It feels the best when in the pool though.

We grab our stuff and head for the female shower rooms to get ready for lunch. I don’t know about them, but I’ve worked up an appetite. Weekends are cool too because they do huge buffets so you can get whatever you want.

“How do you think this season will go with us gone?” Monica takes a seat across from me at the round table and pries her drink open.

We didn’t take long in the showers because our stomachs were growling.

“I haven’t really thought about it, honestly. I hope good though. I’d love to get a state title my senior year.”

“You haven’t been thinking about volleyball?” She presses the back of her hand to my forehead. “Are you sick?”

I laugh and shove it away. “No, just focusing on other things. But don’t worry. I’ve not lost any skill.”

“Oh, right! How did surgery go?” Mika covers her mouth with her napkin to ask the question. The most polite out of the bunch.

“Really good. I feel mostly normal now. I have to wear a brace for the near future but the doctors and my physical therapist are all surprised with my progress.” Pride blooms in my chest. I’ve worked hard to be where I am, and the days when I didn’t want to get out of bed, because those days definitely happened, I still forced myself to do what I needed to so my knee would heal. And it has, so I guess it paid off. It helps to have a dog nudging you to get out of bed because he has to potty, or wants to play. Todd was the best decision Ash has ever made.

“I still can’t believe she did that.” Monica shakes her head.

It takes me a second to realize what she means, but Janelle scoffs and then I know.

“Really? I can. She’s a bitch. The bitchiest of bitches.”

She’s still not over Collins and Alyssa, which I don’t blame her. I’ve not thought much about the whole Alyssa and Ash situation because I don’t know everything, and I’m not going to get all worked up over something I don’t have all the information for. Yay for growth. One day, Ash and I will need to discuss everything, and I dread that day. Not because I am worried about anything, but because I’m ready to move past Alyssa and her drama. It seems like ancient history now.

“Has she been causing chaos in Bayshore?” I’m half joking, half not. It occurred to me she was in town alone with Ash for a short time before he went to England. I don’t know if she was aware of that, but it wouldn’t surprise me if when she found out, she pulled her same hysterics.

“No,” Monica and Mika reply, but Monica lets Mika go first with whatever she was wanting to say. “No one has seen her. I was at a party a few weeks ago.”

“A party?” Now it’s my and Janelle’s turn to be surprised.

Mika’s pale face turns a bright red, and not just from her sunburn. “A graduation party. Anyway, someone asked about her and—”

“No one had seen her since graduation.” Monica burst like she couldn’t hold it in any longer. Mika nods.

Haven’t seen her? That’s not like Alyssa Burton. She loves to be seen. “Like she’s missing?”

“Hopefully,” Janelle grumbles.

“No.” Mika shakes her head. “Like she left town.”

Weird. Where could she have gone? I don’t know her college plans, but maybe she left early for them. It’s odd she up and left and no one knows where she is, though.

“She’s not been posting on social media?”

“That’s the strangest bit, she has on her spam account but it’s random stuff that doesn’t give anything away. Like she posted a table full of drinks the other day but it was a table that could be anywhere, you know?”

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