"It's real grass. It's a real squirrel. It's real life, and I don't feel real at all right now," Brett said as we wandered the streets of Bar Harbor, Maine.

"A squirrel? Where?" I asked.

I scanned the area to find it, but when I didn't spot anything, I looked over at Jia, and there was a small sparkle in her eye. She ran her hand along the top of the grass, then she let out a breath.

"Wow. I never thought I'd literally miss grass. It almost feels like spring, you know?" she said.

I nodded, then looked back to Darrell, Logan, and Carter, who seemed to be discussing something besides our arrival on real land.

I had grown so accustomed to the smell of seawater and the sound of the foghorn, and since they were gone, all the normal sensory experiences practically smacked me in the face. My eyes itched from the exposure to pollen, and the dull roar of everyday commotion seemed more like a yell.

How was no one else overwhelmed?

"You're absolutely crazy," Darrell said to Jia, then went back to talking to Logan as Carter listened.

As much as I wanted to know how Logan felt after getting off the boat, I hated being rude more than anything. I could wait to ask.

Even if he didn't want to listen to my suggestion of watching the water, I wanted to know if the ginger or peppermint helped, for purely scientific purposes. Of course, there wasn't a good control or a decent sample size, but perhaps it could help lead to better future sea expeditions.

"So I read a bunch of Yelp reviews about places around here, and Bar Harbor can be a bit touristy, I guess. I wonder why," Brett said, and as a city on the coast, it wasn't difficult to guess.

"Lame," Jia said, and as we passed an ice cream shop (the third one on that street alone), her eyes settled on a sign just down the road. "That's where we're going."

"What is it?" I asked, and as I squinted to see, the glare of the sunlight burned my eyes. I stopped squinting and blinked a few times. Saving the whales was difficult with blindness.

Jia turned to Logan. "Hey, I found the perfect place for you."

Another question ignored. Just another day at the office.

Whales are better than people. Carter, don't you think that's true?

"Acadia Drinks. I like national forests, and I like alcohol. Let's go," Logan said.

"It's one in the afternoon, and only pathetic losers drink during the day," Darrell said.

"Sounds like you'll fit right in," Brett said, and I let out a laugh.

Darrell shot a glare at me, even though I didn't say anything (I only supported it). "It's not funny."

"Sorry," I mumbled.

The six of us all walked to the bar, and for the first time in about a month, I was in a real building with more décor than just a shelf of books written a hundred fifty years ago. On the wall was a large flat-screen TV playing a baseball game, which could never really hold my interest.

"Boston at Minnesota. Cool," Jia said, and I assumed she was talking about the game.

I wasn't sure which team was which or what their names were, but Logan, Brett, and Jia all seemed interested in it as we ordered drinks.

As fun as this idea seemed an hour ago, Paradise City's gulls and whales called me back. The grass was greener where there was no grass whatsoever.

Billy Joel's Piano Man played throughout the dark ambiance, and even though I was slightly uncomfortable in the real-life setting, as long as Logan was having fun on his birthday, I didn't think I had the right to complain.

There weren't too many other people there, but the six of us occupied more than our share of space with the bubble of strange that surrounded us. Even though we had tried to clean up for our return to the continental US, but completely removing the marine aura was impossible.

Logan nudged me. "You look like you miss your whales."

I nodded.

"You're such a fucking weirdo. I'm not a fan of people either, but it's nice being around others, not just you guys," he said.

"I'm sorry we're so horrible," I said.

Logan nodded. "I forgive you."

I took in a breath as he started to laugh.

Two more people, a guy and a girl, walked in, and even though she talked in a really loud voice, I paid them no mind.

"Brett, it's been ten minutes, and that's your third drink. Maybe you should slow down," Jia said, and I turned my attention to that.

"Part of each purchase goes to Acadia National Park, so I'm just doing my part to save the trees. Nature is wonderful," Brett said.

With his good intentions, there wasn't any use in trying to slow him down, so I rose my eyebrows and took a sip of my own donation.

"Hey, I hate to bother you guys, but what game is on in here?" the guy who had just walked in asked.

I looked up at the screen. Commercials were on, which were about as exciting as baseball itself.

"Red Sox and Twins," Brett replied.

"Dammit," the girl muttered loudly and twisted the ends up her curly hair. "Now he's just going to get distracted by the game, instead of the research he's supposed to be doing."

Research?

Now that was my language.

"We're doing research too. What are you guys working on?" I asked.

"I host a radio show back at my school in Minnesota, so I'm trying to find the best bar in Bar Harbor to report it to the people. Arti's just here because I get lonely," the guy said.

The girl nodded. "He's weak."

I put on a fake smile. "Oh, wow. How exciting."

There were few things more disappointing than false advertisement.

"Damn, that sounds like my kind of research," Jia said with a laugh. "I need to hear about this."

The girl looked up at the guy, who smiled back at Jia.

"I'd be glad to tell you all about it. Talking's kind of my thing. I'm Blaine," he said and took the seat next to her.

"Jia," she replied.

I got the slight sense that they were perhaps attracted to each other, and I looked over to Logan. He looked back at me and shook his head.

I looked to Blaine's friend, and she made a gun with her fingers and pretended to shoot herself in the head.

"He always does this. It takes him two seconds to fall in love with people way out of his league. All she has to do is listen to his dumbass stories, and boom. It's too much for him to handle," she said, and I smiled.

I was right, then. That wasn't happening much in recent weeks.

"This is exactly why we never should have left Paradise City, because some of us, namely Jia, need adult supervision twenty-four-seven," Darrell said.

"You're an adult. Supervise her," Brett said.

Darrell shook his head, then looked at Brett dead in the eye. "I try, but where has that gotten me?"

I rolled my eyes, and when my vision landed on Logan, it reminded me of the boat.

"Oh, how many times did you puke earlier?" I asked.

He rose an eyebrow. "One. Thanks for asking."

"And would you say the ginger or peppermint helped?"

"If you wanted to determine that, we could have set an experiment up in a way to test that," he said.

I smiled. "That would have been nice. Do you need more ginger?"

"For the way back, yeah, if I even manage to get back on that boat. I might just stay here for the rest of my life."

"I'll go buy you some. Consider it a birthday present," I said.

"By yourself?"

I nodded. "I just," I thought for a moment, "need a little bit of alone time."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be back soon. Save my spot," I said.

I grabbed my bag and headed out, and although I didn't really know where I was going, it felt a little bit more homey and comfortable outside than it did inside. Nature was my family, my friend, and maybe I was okay with that.

I scanned the letters of each sign I passed, and like Brett said, many of them seemed touristy. All I needed was a supermarket of some sort or even a gas station for ginger ale.

A squirrel sat underneath one sign, and when I approached it just to see how brave the little guy was, it scurried away and up into a tree.

"I wasn't going to hurt you," I said, even though it couldn't understand.

When I looked back at his original spot, the old appearance of the sign caught my attention. Bar Harbor Rocks and Botany.

I had asked Toby to buy a house plant or two for Paradise City, and I had been disappointed when he didn't get us any. With the chance to rectify that situation, I pushed open the door to the store, and a little bell rang as I entered.

The wooden floor creaked beneath my steps, just like it did on the island, and rock specimens with labels decorated the shelves of the store. Some had fossils imprinted on their surface, and naturally, magnetism pulled me right over to observe them.

I ran my fingers along the fish skeleton pattern, and on the shelf next to it, a small Venus flytrap stood in a pot painted with white polka dots.

That was it.

That Venus flytrap had just won the Go Home with Reagan sweepstakes.

There weren't many stray flies in the middle of the ocean, but as long as the soil was good, it would be fine, since they ate insects for nutrients rather than energy. The fascinating part about them was that, like many plants, they had a primitive nervous system that sent electric impulses through its system. They enabled the flytrap to capture its prey and perhaps my heart.

I would have been lying if I claimed that I didn't feel some similar electricity in myself when I picked it up off the shelf. Was it love? Quite possibly.

I stared at my future pet for a moment, feeling the deep emotional connection between us, and it occurred to me why I was shopping in the first place. I was supposed to get a birthday present for Logan.

I picked another one up off the shelf, so even if I wasn't around, they would still have each other to be with.

Two plants were better than one anyway, and I was certain Logan would love them just as much as I did.

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Hello everyone! I hope you're having a lovely day, and if you're not, I hope it gets better. Like last week, I scrambled to get this done (I'm a busy little bee anymore. Yay college.), so if you see any grammar mistakes, just punch me in the face. Thank you.

Also, AHHHHHH. I'm sure some of you caught on to the fact that Jia was the name of a character in the bonus scene of The Score, so there's that puzzle piece put into place.

Today's question is: What is your favorite part of the story so far? Your least favorite?