The week before Thanksgiving break, the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club (yes, they really do call themselves that) put up posters all over campus advertising a surfing trip. They have done this every year for as long as I can remember. I asked Jonas about it once, and he said that the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club was an established organization at Egmont College when he first started teaching there, and he's been at Egmont for most of his career.

Despite the fact that the EATC has been around for all of my college career, I had never been on one of their trips when the posters for the surfing trip started appearing in the dining hall, on the bulletin board in the Rhodes Center, in the GUAC, and anywhere else where the administration would let them hang up posters. I even found one on the door to my dorm room, as if the club was targeting me specifically. At first, I thought that the poster was like the fan letter - a way for Blake to prove that he was watching me wherever I went - but when I saw a poster on my neighbor's door, I knew that Blake wasn't involved. The EATC were just aggressively recruiting people for their trip. There wasn't any foul play.

After seeing all of those posters everywhere, and realizing that I didn't have any plans for Thanksgiving break, I thought about going on the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club surfing trip. I had never been surfing before, but the poster promised that new surfers would have a chance to learn from the experienced ones, and it seemed far more exciting than sitting around in my dorm. The only problem was that I didn't have anyone to go on the trip with. I didn't want to go by myself, surrounded by complete strangers.

That night, I ate dinner with Aditi, and I decided to bring up the surfing trip. As she took a bite of her pasta, I asked, "Have you seen the posters for the surfing trip?"

"Who hasn't?" Aditi replied.

"I thought that it might be fun to go this year."

"Dani, do you even know how to surf?"

"No, but I'd like to learn."

"I don't know why you want to go on that trip. You're just going to be left behind by all of the Extreme Thrill Adventure Club people..."

"Extreme Adventure Thrill Club," I corrected her.

"Whatever," Aditi said. "They all know how to surf, and you don't. You're going to get left behind."

"Exactly, and that's why I need you to go with me."

"I'm going home for Thanksgiving break, Dani."

"You are?"

"Yeah," Aditi said. "I want to see my family, and they're all in New Jersey right now."

"Do you know anyone who's staying?" I asked.

"I don't know," Aditi said. "Kara's going home, and so are most of the other members of our D&D party. You could ask that girl in your bio class that you're always talking about."

"Joyce?" I said. "She lives in Miami. There's no way that she's staying for Thanksgiving."

I asked around, but it was just like Aditi had said. Most of my friends were going home for Thanksgiving. A few of them asked why I wasn't going home too, and I always made up some sort of excuse about plane tickets to Cleveland being expensive at this time of year. In reality, I desperately wanted to see Sydney again, and I could have flown or driven out to Cleveland, but it was just too much to deal with Jason. It had been hard enough living in the same house with him that summer. I had plans to go home for winter break though, if only to see my sister. I knew from Skyping with her every week that she desperately missed me, so I couldn't stay away from Cleveland forever.

Even though I was sure that Joyce was going home too, I asked her about the surfing trip after Jonas' class that Friday. "I'm going on that trip," she said.

"Really?" I said. "I thought you were going home for Thanksgiving."

"I'm going home for a couple of days after the surfing trip to see my family," Joyce said. "My friend Nico is the president of Extreme Adventure Thrill Club, so I'm going on the trip to support him. I'm super nervous though. I've never gone surfing before."

"Me neither," I said.

"Are you going?" Joyce asked.

"I think so. I haven't signed up yet."

"You should sign up. It would be fun, and I could use a surfing buddy."

After that conversation, I immediately ran to the bulletin board in the Rhodes Center, went to the website listed on the poster, and signed up for the surfing trip. Maybe Aditi was right, and I would get left behind by all of the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club members, but at least I would have Joyce. We were lab partners and surfing buddies, and yet I wanted something more.

The day before the trip, I drove to the zoo, knowing that I wouldn't be back for a few days and that Claudia needed my help. She was working on training the dolphins to do tricks. They had learned a lot of different stunts at the zoo in Tampa, and although Claudia hated that the zookeepers had spent more time forcing the dolphins to amuse zoo visitors than actually feeding them and giving them adequate living facilities, Egmont Zoo needed money, and it wasn't like the dolphins were ever going to be released into the wild. Claudia figured that it was worth taking advantage of the dolphins' abilities to do jumps and flips, as morally reprehensible as she thought that it was.

I spent the day learning various commands, and then I helped Kirk practice jumping through a hoop. He didn't seem happy about it, but once I held a fish on the other side of the hoop, he finally jumped through. "Good job, Kirk!" I exclaimed as he snapped the fish out of my hand.

Kirk let out a low, disgruntled chirp, and I felt a little bit sorry for him. He didn't want to be doing this, and neither did I. Kirk dove back into the water, and I headed into the garage. I spent some time working on a paper that wasn't due until after break, while McCoy and Spock practiced hitting a ball around. Even from the garage, I could hear the dolphins splashing in the water as I typed, while I tried to think of a way to increase my word count and dreamed of the surfing trip.

I found Blake's Mazda next to mine in the parking lot. He was just sitting in his car, waiting for me. I cautiously got into my car, and as expected, he followed me all the way back to Egmont College. As I drove, I wondered what the point of following me home from work was. It was probably just a scare tactic, but it worked. At least I won't have to deal with him on the surfing trip, I thought.

That was when a truly horrifying thought popped into my head. What if he followed me to the beach where we were going surfing? What would I do then?

I knew that I was just being paranoid, but I was frightened. That night, I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was Blake watching my every move. I told myself that he would never hurt me. He was just trying to scare me into rejoining the Love Martyrs. The worst part was that for a split second, I considered joining the Love Martyrs again just to get Blake to stop. It was nothing more than a fleeting thought, but I hated that Blake still had that kind of power over me.

I woke up the next morning feeling exhausted, but as I packed up a few last minute items, I pushed my thoughts of Blake away. I looked into the mirror and tried to smile, acting like everything was okay. I was going on a surfing trip, after all. I could at least pretend to be excited.

Once I was done packing, I went outside and helped the members of the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club load bags and surfboards onto the bus. As soon as all of our stuff was on the bus, we got on. I sat next to Joyce, and as we drove across the state, the two of us talked about the trip. "I'm actually kind of excited for this," I said.

"Me too," Joyce said. "It will be nice to get out of Egmont Beach."

"Definitely."

"I just hope that they have a good coffee shop by the beach."

"What's with you and coffee?"

Joyce shrugged and said, "I can't function without it. I'd be falling asleep without my daily coffee."

"I can understand that, but I wouldn't want to be that dependent on a drink."

"I don't know. I think we all need something that we can rely on. I've been reading a lot of poetry for my English class lately, and all of the poets write about how wonderful it is to fall in love, but I think people just like having someone that they can count on to be there for them."

"Have you ever been in love?" I asked her.

"No, not really," Joyce responded. "I've dated a few girls, but I wouldn't say that I was in love with any of them. Have you?"

"No," I said. "I've been single for my whole life. I had a massive crush on this girl in high school though." I didn't mention that the girl was Madeline Fujita. I might have never become so fascinated with Joyce if it wasn't for Madeline, but I still wasn't ready for Joyce to know about my past.

"At least you had a crush on someone that you might have had a chance with," Joyce said. "I was obsessed with Emma Watson when I was in middle school."

"Trust me, I did not have a chance with the girl at my school," I said. "She was as straight as a ruler."

"I've learned that it's best not to obsess over straight girls."

"It's just kind of frustrating. Everyone else seems to have been in love at some point except for me. Even Aditi has a boyfriend now."

"You know, I thought that you and Aditi were together when I first met you. You always seem to hanging around her."

I laughed and said, "No, we're just friends. Aditi and I were roommates during our freshman year, and we play Dungeons and Dragons together."

"Why did you two stop rooming together?"

"We just didn't live well together. The main issue was that she had to set a million different alarms to wake up in the morning. It would start at four in the morning, and it would continue until the time that she actually had to wake up at."

"My roommate last year did that! It was super annoying," Joyce said. "I live by myself now, and it's a lot better, but it gets lonely sometimes."

"I like living on my own," I said. "It's nice to have some space for myself."

"I can't stand it," Joyce said. "Maybe it's because I grew up with four siblings. The house was never quiet when I was a kid." She paused and then said, "I kind of miss my brothers and sisters, but I'll see them soon."

"I miss my sister a lot, and I won't get to see her again until winter break."

"That must be awful. I wouldn't want to be away from my family that long." I nodded, and Joyce looked out the window. "The surfing trip's going to be a nice change of pace though. I just wish that our break was a little bit longer. I don't want to go back to school next Monday."

"Me neither," I said. "I have a whole bunch of papers due then."

"Me too. It's like all of my professors decided to gang up on me and make all of their assignments due at the same time. Speaking of school, when is the bio report due?"

"Not for another two weeks." I was glad that we had some time to work on that assignment. Joyce and I still had a lot of data to analyze. "Jonas assigned a worksheet on ecological principles that's due after break though."

"Yeah, I brought that with me, but I don't really understand it all that well," Joyce said as she dug through her backpack. "Could you help me?"

"Sure," I said. Joyce and I went through each question, but I kept getting distracted by her adorable smile and the way her eyes lit up whenever she looked at me. We worked on biology until we arrived at the beach where we were staying, occasionally going off on tangents. More than anything, I was thankful for her company during the long bus ride.

When we arrived at the beach, everyone got off of the bus, grabbed a surfboard, and ran into the waves. It was a perfect day. The sun was shining, the sea was foaming, and there were palm trees looming above us, so the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club members took to the waves right away. They made it look easy, letting the ocean carry them far from shore. I got caught up in the excitement and tried to copy the club members, but it didn't work. As soon as I tried to stand up, I fell over, only a few feet from shore. "Do you need a little help, Dani?" Joyce asked.

"I'm okay," I said as I waded back to the beach. "Surfing is a lot harder than it looks."

"Maybe you just need to give it another try," Joyce said. She grabbed her board, paddled around for a while, and then when a wave came, she tried to stand up. However, she wiped out right away, just like I had.

On that first day, Joyce and I didn't manage to catch any waves, although we tried our best. After an hour or so of attempting to surf and repeatedly wiping out, we decided to stay at the beach. While the rest of the students on the trip rode the waves, we swam around, sunbathed, and built a rather impressive sandcastle. When the sun started to go down and the surfers returned to shore, I swore that I felt her hand brush against mine, sending sparks through my whole body.

That night, we all had to pick who we wanted to room with for the trip, and Joyce asked if I wanted to room with her. "I'd love to" I said, smiling. I didn't tell her just how delighted I was to room with her, but perhaps I should have.

We took the elevator into the sixth floor hotel room, but once we got there, I was too exhausted to do anything but go straight to bed. "There's a whirlpool downstairs," Joyce mentioned, but I told her that I wanted to sleep. I quickly looked out the window, mostly to ensure that Blake wasn't watching. He wasn't there, of course. I don't know why I thought that he would be - it was nothing but mindless paranoia. All I could see was the ocean stretched out before me, the moonlight reflecting off of the waves. It was a beautiful view, but I closed the curtains, got ready for bed, and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up to the sound of Joyce snoring softly. Even her snores had a musical quality to them, like she was practicing her piano in her sleep. Her alarm went off moments later, a loud orchestra piece with cannons blaring from her phone. Joyce's eyes opened suddenly, and she turned to look at me. "Hey, Dani," she said. "Are you ready to spend another day wiping out?"

I laughed and said, "As ready as I'll ever be."

We both got ready to go to the beach again, and after the whole group had eaten breakfast, we returned to the shoreline, ready for more surfing. Again, the Extreme Adventure Thrill Club members raced into the waves right away, riding them as if it was nothing. Joyce and I tried our best, but we spent more time falling than catching waves. We had a good time anyways, and with Joyce, I was never lonely.

Sometime around noon, I finally managed to catch a wave. I stood up just at the right moment, adrenaline rushing through me. I was still standing when I reached the peak of the wave, and I glided along the water, breathing in the salty air and wishing that the moment would last forever.

It was all over before I knew it, and I paddled back to shore. "Did you see that, Joyce?" I asked excitedly.

"Yeah, that was pretty neat," she said, but the wide smile on her face told me that she was more impressed than she let on.

I didn't catch another wave that day, so Joyce and I ended up waiting on the beach again, staring up at the sky and talking about nothing and everything while everyone else went surfing. Sometimes, we would get up from our spot and buy some drinks or splash around in the ocean, but most of the time, it was better just to lie in the sand next to her, soaking in the sun and Joyce's radiant presence.

When we got back to the hotel room, my phone suddenly started ringing. I saw that it was Aunt Shirley, and I picked it up. "Hi Dani," Aunt Shirley said. "Do you have plans for Thanksgiving yet?"

"Not really," I said. "I'm on a surfing trip right now, but we're driving back tomorrow."

"How interesting," Aunt Shirley said. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, it's been a great trip so far," I said.

"Anyways, would you like to come over to my house for Thanksgiving? I'm inviting some of my friends from the country club over, and I'm sure they'd love to see you."

I wasn't sure how I felt about hanging around Aunt Shirley's friends for the third Thanksgiving in a row, but I didn't want to be rude to my great aunt, who had at least been kind enough to give me the offer. "Sure," I said.

"Great," Aunt Shirley said. "Why don't you come over on Wednesday evening, and we'll do something fun while you're off school?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Fantastic. I'll see you on Wednesday."

"See you soon," I said, and then I turned my phone off.

"Who were you talking to?" Joyce asked, looking up from her latest book as I sat down on the edge of her bed.

"My Aunt Shirley," I answered.

"She's the one who lives in Egmont Beach, right?"

"Technically, she lives in that big mansion on the edge of town."

"That's crazy," Joyce said. "I didn't even realize that anyone lived in that place."

I shrugged and explained, "She got rich off of her friend who invented the school backpack. Aunt Shirley managed her friend's company until she retired. She hasn't passed on her wealth to the rest of the family though. We can barely afford tuition at Egmont."

"Honestly, who can afford Egmont tuition?" Joyce said. "I just hope that they don't raise it again."

"Me too," I said.

Joyce put her book down and then said, "You know, I'm glad that I got to spend this surfing trip with you. Today was one of the best days I've had since I came to Egmont." She inched closer to me, close enough that if I had leaned forward a little bit, I could have kissed her. Sometimes, I wish that I had done it.

The next day, Joyce and I took the bus back to Egmont College. We sat next to each other on the bus again, and when we arrived, I asked her if she wanted to come to the Javawocky with me. "I wish I could, but my parents are picking me up in half an hour," she replied, so I headed back to Wallace Hall, feeling even more alone than usual as I walked across the empty campus.

After a few days of surfing the Internet, which was far less interesting than surfing the waves, Wednesday finally arrived. When I looked out the window to make sure that Blake wasn't there, I spotted Aunt Shirley's car parked in front of the dorm, waiting for me. I left my dorm room and got into the passenger seat of the car, and once I was in the car, Aunt Shirley started talking about taking a boat ride through Naples. "I think it would be a lot of fun to see some of the homes out there," Aunt Shirley said. "Right, Dani?"

"Sure," I said nonchalantly, and Aunt Shirley started driving toward Naples while I changed the radio station. We stayed silent for most of the ride, and a little while later, we arrived in Naples. Aunt Shirley and I got onto a large, bright white boat filled with tourists. I found a seat next to a window, and I waited for the tour to start, watching the other passengers warily. However, it wasn't long before the boat left the dock, and our tour guide began to talk about the neighborhood that we would be traveling through.

Aunt Shirley went up on the deck to see the houses right away, and she told me to come and see. I reluctantly joined her, and as we passed by an absurdly large mansion with a huge pool and a yacht sitting in front of it, the tour guide told us exactly how much it was worth and that the tycoon who owned the house only lived in it for one month out of the year. "Isn't it beautiful?" Aunt Shirley said.

"Yeah, it's kind of cool," I said, but I couldn't match Aunt Shirley's enthusiasm, no matter how hard I tried.

"I just wish that I could buy a house out here," Aunt Shirley said longingly.

We passed by another, equally luxurious house, and Aunt Shirley again gushed over the incredible architecture. My only thought was that this neighborhood of billionaires was a perfectly good argument for socialism. The house owners were throwing away their money, building beautiful homes that they would never live in, while the boat tour company was making money off of people like Aunt Shirley who were rich enough to drive around in expensive cars but dreamed of becoming even richer. There was something deeply wrong about all of it, and as we floated onward, toward the Gulf of Mexico, all I wanted was to be back at the beach with Joyce.

As we entered the Gulf, the boat passed by a pod of wild dolphins. I leaned over the side of the boat to get a better view, and then I snapped a picture of them on my phone. The dolphins looked far happier than the ones at the zoo. Unlike Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, they were free. Aunt Shirley, however, didn't seem to care. "What's the big deal?" Aunt Shirley asked. "Aren't there dolphins at the zoo?"

It wasn't the same at all, but I didn't tell her that. Instead, I noticed a pelican sitting on top of a post, and I took a picture of that too. Even in Florida, where everything was artificial and contrived, with every palm tree in just the right place, there was some beautiful wildlife. It was a shame that nobody seemed to appreciate it.

Again, I wished that Joyce was there. She would have listened to me and believed me in a way that Aunt Shirley never would. We would have laughed at the billionaires' oversized homes and marveled at the dolphins and the pelican. She might tell me something about how we should have studied pelicans instead of fish for our biology project, or how the people in Miami were better than this, but she would have made a far better companion than the jaded tourists on this boat.

After the boat ride, Aunt Shirley and I went out for dinner, and then she dropped me off at the college again. "See you tomorrow," she told me.

"Bye, Aunt Shirley," I said as I walked toward Wallace Hall. On my way there, I considered getting some of my friends together and playing some D&D, but most of them were out of town. The zoo was closed for Thanksgiving, and there wasn't anything happening on campus, so I was on my own until Thanksgiving dinner.

I spent most of the next day texting Joyce, watching YouTube videos, and working on some homework that was due after break. Aditi also sent me a few texts complaining about her crazy relatives, and Tanner, Kara, Sydney, and my dad all texted me to wish me a happy Thanksgiving. Eventually, Aunt Shirley's Bentley showed up in front of Wallace Hall, and we drove to her mansion.

I was by far the youngest person in the room. All of Aunt Shirley's friends were at least sixty years old, and they treated my presence as a novelty, talking about "Shirley's great niece" as if I wasn't there. Sometimes, one of them would ask me about how my parents were doing, or what I was studying, or if I liked Egmont College, and I always responded politely to their questions. However, was nearly impossible to keep track of all of the fellow retirees that Aunt Shirley had invited over. It was like I was in the Love Martyrs again, being introduced to so many music executives or fans in a row that I had no chance of keeping track of all of them.

The food was delicious. One of Aunt Shirley's friends had done all of the cooking, and she had done a wonderful job. By the time we got to dessert, I was stuffed, but the pumpkin pie looked so tasty that I had to have a slice anyways. After dinner, I was ready to go to bed right away, but Aunt Shirley insisted that I stay and chat with her friends. They started talking about the new golf course that they were building across town, and I just couldn't bring myself to pay attention, so I stared out the window, watching a flock of birds fly over the house.

My phone began to ring, and when I picked it up, I saw that my mom was calling. I figured that she was just calling to wish me a happy Thanksgiving, so I ignored the call, lowered the volume on my phone, and put it back into my pocket. A few seconds later, Mom called again, and when I ignored that, she called a third time. "I should probably take this call," I told Aunt Shirley, and I stepped out into the hall and answered the phone.

"Dani, I've been trying to reach you," Mom said, panicked.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's Jason," Mom said, and I swore that I could hear her crying through the phone. "He was drunk and crashed his car, and now he's in the hospital."

I didn't know what to say. I had a million questions, but I stayed quiet. I wanted to do something: comfort my mother, ask if Sydney was okay, scream about what Jason had done to our family, but I was frozen.

My mother was the next one to speak. In her most desperate tone, she pled, "Dani, can you please come home?"