CALL OF THE MOON

Chapter 3

Bashfully, I looked at Corey as he nudged me gently with his arm. He had a semi-bashful look on his face as he asked,

"While we are waiting for dinner, would you like to take a stroll with me?"

I looked into his eyes as he ran his fingers through his dark hair, nervously, and I smirked.

What was he so nervous about? I wondered as I studied his face. Corey's face had changed from his adorable baby-face into a handsome young man's face.

"Sure," I said.

I heard Jacob and Sam share a chuckle. I looked at them in question, but they shrugged their shoulders and looked away as I eyed them suspiciously. They both then grinned at me, and I shook my head.

Without a word, Corey intertwined his fingers with mine and I then understood what they were laughing about. Corey led me down the driveway, and then down the street towards the beach. I was so mesmerized by the intensity of Corey's eyes on me, I didn't notice that a blue sports car had pulled into the driveway.

"Sammy?!" exclaimed a confused voice, and I pulled my gaze from Corey's as soon as I heard my name, and I saw Kim walking towards us.

What was she doing here? I wondered.

She eyed me angrily as she reached us, but then turned to Corey and smiled brightly.

"I thought we had plans tonight, baby?" Kim cooed as she put her hands on his chest.

Evidently, I let go of his hand and I took a step to the side. He looked at me in question, and then at her, confused.

"What plans?" he asked in confusion.

By the look on Corey's face, I could tell that he was bewildered about the situation. I looked at Kim's face and then at Corey's.

Why would she come up to us and say they had plans when they really didn't? At that time, I was really getting confused.

"We were going to study for your test coming up, and then we were going to help your mom," she cooed as she looked up at him.

Corey turned to me and gave me an apologetic look, and I put my hands up and said,

"Hey if you have plans..." I started to say, but Jacob interrupted me as he walked up to us. He had a vexed look on his face.

"Kim, I thought we had plans tonight?" Jacob asked her in an annoyed voice.

Immediately, Kim dropped her hands and walked toward Jacob. Intrigued, I watched silently.

"The plans were with you, tonight?" She asked, confused, as she scratched her head. Jacobs' expression turned even harder.

"What is going on between you and my brother?" Jacob demanded, and she looked at him in question.

Kim shook her head as she backed away from him with her hands up as if to protect herself. I looked at her like she was crazy. If she thought the guys were going to physically hurt her, then she was wrong, I thought to myself. Their parents, my dad and I would tear them a new one if they ever did such a thing. That I can guarantee.

"Nothing. I must have gotten confused,” she stated as she stuttered a little.

Jacob and Corey gave Kim a hard look.

"Confused? I don't even look like my brother!" Jacob exclaimed.

Jacob was right. He and Corey resembled each other, but there wasn't any evidence of how she could have confused the two brothers.

Corey crossed his arms over his chest angrily, and they both glared at her. She looked at each of them with wide eyes. She looked terrified.

"How could you confuse me with my brother?" Corey asked, and Kim backed up defensively.

"I'm sorry, I just....."

Jacob cut her off mid-sentence, and Kim looked like she was about to cry.

"You were just mad, because you saw that Sammy was walking with Corey. You are jealous. You didn't think my brother wouldn't tell me every time you came to him, trying to hook up with him?" Exclaimed Jacob angrily.

Kim looked at Jacob and Corey in horror as tears welled up in her eyes.

I didn't even realize that the boys and Kim had become this close while I was gone.

Were Jacob and Kim in a relationship? I wondered as I watched silently.

"You also were just trying to ruin Sammy and Corey's walk to the beach, because you want to be in Sammy's place!" Jacob added.

Shocked, I stared at Jacob. I could tell that he was furious.

Why were Corey and Jacob so heated? I wondered.

If Kim had made a mistake, then it should be fixed, but they were not acting as if this was a simple problem. It seemed as though I was missing something from the story. Had she really been this much of a bother to them while I was gone? Hopefully, I will get some answers soon.

"Jake, I..." Kim began to say, but Jacob crossed his arms, and she stopped talking.

"You seem to think you are entitled to me or my brothers. You walk around like you are part of our family or something, when you are not even dating any of us,” exclaimed Jacob angrily.

Jacob and Corey stood side by side with their arms crossed over their chests. I could see that Kim had tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I.." She started.

As things came to the light, I was beginning to see the bigger picture now.

"No. I really don't want to hear it. Please leave,” said Jacob, and he stood his ground.

Kim stood still, staring at him in disbelief. Suddenly, the sound of a truck pulling into the driveway interrupted their conversation, and I saw the two Indian girls jump out. Happily, I smiled as I saw Isabell and Carly, the rest of the childhood group. Even though they were more into playing house and cooking with Marta, the girls and I still played together.

"Sam!" I heard Isabell exclaim as she jumped into his arms.

Both beautiful, russet skin tone, and dark hair braided down their backs. Carly had a silver streak down the middle of her hair, caused by being struck by lightning when we were kids. I saw Sam point in our direction and I heard them both squeal.

"Sammy!" The girls squealed as they both ran full speed to us, and they threw their arms around me, almost knocking me to the ground.

"I can't believe you are here!" exclaimed Carly as they let go of me. Carly looked at me with bright green eyes and said,

"Same hair, color of the leaves that turn in autumn. Same eyes, the color of the clearest blue skies. It is so good to see you, my sister,” Carly said, and I grinned.

She has always called me sister, ever since we were little kids. I turned my gaze to Isabell.

"Izzy!" I said happily, and she smirked at me.

"So how long are you staying this time?" Izzy asked in a snobbish tone.

She was a little snobby, but only when she felt the need to be. However, she had always been that way. Gladly, I gave them an ear to ear grin.

"Indefinitely," I stated, and I was not prepared for the squeal they both let out, and I held my ears, as they hugged me tightly.

"Can't breathe," I joked as they let go of me and laughed.

Carly turned to Jacob and looked at him shyly. Then her eyes must have caught Kim standing there, because I watched Carly snap her attention to Kim. Izzy wrapped her arms around Sam's waist and I heard her whisper,

"This is going to be good."

Sam laughed and put his arms around her.

I wondered what she was talking about, so I just stood silently and watched.

Suspiciously, Carly looked at Kim for a second and then her head snapped back to Jacob. As if they had an unspoken conversation, she walked over to Jacob, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and kissed him deeply. Astonished, my mouth dropped open, and I heard Sam say,

"Nice!" Kim stifled her tears, turned on her heels, and ran to her car, crying.

We watched her as she aggressively sped off, throwing stones as she spun her tires. Sam, Izzy, Carly, Corey and Jacob laughed, and I looked at them. Realizing how my friend truly was making me feel a type of way about her, I stared after the car in disbelief.

Why would she try to break things up between me and Corey? I wondered, and then the conversation Kim and I had in the parking lot registered in my mind.

When Kim was talking about the brothers, her tone was intimidating. She acted as though she had first dibs on whichever brother was free.

"That was amazing!" Jacob said happily as he disrupted my thoughts. He turned to Carly with a sheepish grin. She smiled and so did I. Corey nudged me with his arm, and intertwined our fingers back together and asked,

"Shall we?" He asked, and I bit my lip softly as I nodded. I heard a grunt come from Corey, and I smirked. Oops, maybe I shouldn't bite my lip in front of him. He may get the wrong impression, I thought.

"Bye guys, see you in a bit,” said Sam, and he winked at us.

We nodded as we continued our walk toward the beach. Finally, we made it to the soft sand, and I stopped walking. Corey turned and looked at me in question.

"I want to take my shoes off and feel the sand between my toes," I said as I pulled each shoe and sock off. Corey laughed at me and nodded. He was wearing a pair of slides and he took them off as well.

"Sand between the toes, it is,” he stated, and I grinned at him.

We left our shoes at the edge of the sand and walked out onto the beach. The sand felt cool and tickly on my feet as I dug my feet into the sand. It was such a lovely feeling for me. The sounds the water made crashing against the cliffs in the distance were peaceful and soothing. The mist blew through the air and hit our faces as we neared the water's edge. At that moment, we walked in a comfortable silence.

"I really have missed you,” he finally said. I looked up at him and grinned.

"I missed you too, Corey."

"Why did you stop coming out here?" He asked. I sighed as I looked at the ground, and he looked at me.

I knew that using my mom wasn't an excuse for not coming out to my dad's and I really didn't want to hurt his feelings. However, I needed to be honest with him, and he was grown up enough to understand that life happens, or at least I hoped he was mature enough. Corey studied me for a moment.

"Sammy, whatever it is, you know you can tell me anything,” he stated, and I looked up at him as I sighed a frustrated sigh. I felt like I really didn't have a choice but to tell him the truth. Here goes nothing, I thought to myself.

"Well, my mom met someone new and started traveling. I had to stay home and go to school. I couldn't just drop everything and go traveling, so I moved out here with my dad, so she wouldn't worry as much," I explained quickly.

I didn't want to get into the fact that my mother was keeping me from coming out here, so I came up with a quick lie that would deviate his question.Corey sighed a frustrated sigh and looked up at the sky. I looked up too, and I noticed that dusk had set in the sky, with deep blue and purple hues. We walked along the beach until we came to some boulders and stopped. I leaned against one of them, listening to the sound of the water crashing in the distance.

The large rock was cool and hard on my back. I watched as Corey walked over and stood in front of me. He placed a hand on each side of me against the boulder, arms straight, supporting his weight. Shyly, he looked into my eyes and then glanced down, and shook his head with a half crooked smile.

"Corey, what's wrong?" I asked softly, as he half chuckled, still not looking at me.

"It's nothing,” he said, and I scoffed.

If it was nothing, then why was he hiding his face? I wondered.

"Oh, come on, tell me," I exclaimed, and he looked up at me.