I first met Sky when I was twelve.

Back then, the Nauti Buoys only consisted of Austin, Connor, and me. Really, we weren't even the Nauti Buoys yet because River hadn't joined us yet and we hadn't given his dad's boat its legendary name.

River came that summer, but Sky came first.

She arrived in Shellside Bay two weeks before school started, and everyone knew about her arrival within two hours. She was the talk of the town. Everyone was whispering about the moving truck that had parked outside the little blue house that had been empty for the past six months.

We weren't friends right away, but when she joined the group, it was like she was always meant to be one of us.

The day we met, she was standing outside of her new house, helping her parents unpack the moving truck. I had been riding past on my bike with Austin and Connor and stopped in front of her driveway.

We stared at each other for a moment. She was paler back then, untouched by the glaring sun of Shellside Bay's summers. She was coming from a town closer to the city, but further from the beach. Back then, she hadn't even touched a surfboard yet.

Her hair, though, was just the same. It was unruly and wild but, back then, cropped to her shoulders—just like mine was.

She touched the ends of her hair as she stared at me, then flashed me a smile.

"Looks better on me," she said.

I gaped at her in disbelief that she'd said that to me, that those had been the first words out of her mouth—and then I started to laugh.

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Sky was gone as quick as she'd appeared.

Her cousin had broken the news to the family and chaos had broken loose. The marriage certificates were already signed, and the baby was already brewing in her womb, but Sky's family would be damned if there was no real wedding ceremony.

And so, Sky had been summoned back to her cousin's hometown to plan a wedding in less than a month. A wedding that would hopefully distract from the fact that her cousin's baby would be born two months 'early', when the time came.

My room seemed ten times larger without her clothes strewn on the floor, or her duffle bag tucked in the corner. I even missed her cold toes against my legs in the middle of the night.

I sat on my bed, lying on my stomach as I revised a lecture on statistics. We had a test coming up and I still couldn't wrap my head around the concept of a null hypothesis. And there were so many Greek letters. I groaned, pressing my hands against my face. This was maths, why were there so many Greek letters?

I knew I would regret dropping out of the higher maths class in high school. I hadn't expected to go to university—and I definitely hadn't expected to need to do maths for a degree in marine biology.

I used to be good at this stuff. Now, it seemed the letters floated meaninglessly on the page, only there to make my life harder.

Outside, music was pounding. I could hear the quiet clink of drinks and chatter beneath the pounding bass of River's speakers.

He was throwing another party and, while it was less chaotic than the previous one, I'd had my fill of parties for the term. I was preoccupied. Not only did I have a statistics exam soon, but I also had a practical exam for my biomolecular science lab, and then an essay due for my biology class. It was piling up.

I wanted to tear my hair out.

I glared down at my blank paper, my pen hovering over the page. I'd listened to the lecture twice now and I had nothing to add to my original notes. It hadn't helped at all.

I groaned, dropping the pen, and rolling onto my back.

It was a shame that Lachie wasn't in any of my other classes. I had no other friends, no one to call, no one to ask for help from.

It seemed like most of my classmates were friends with people from their high schools. My high school friends were back in Shellside Bay, working full time, barely responding to my texts. And even then, they probably wouldn't know much about my statistics exam.

I sighed, tapping on the one contact I needed to speak to right now—needed to see.

Everett answered almost immediately.

He lifted the shaking camera to his face and flashed me a smile. I frowned at him.

"Ev," I said, blinking at his video. "Where are you?"

"Subway," he replied, right as the camera shook again. He flipped the camera momentarily, showing me the stained seats and crowded carriage before turning it back to himself. "Like, the train subway, not the fast-food restaurant. Although I could go for a meatball sub. What's up?"

"I'm studying," I said with a pout. "Please save me."

"I'm on my way right now," he teased. After a pause, he added, "Lucky's not there to help you today?"

"It's Lachie," I corrected before rolling my eyes with a smile. "And no. He's not in my statistics course. You're not jealous, are you?"

His brow furrowed. "Me? Jealous?"

"Yes, you. Jealous."

"Of course, I'm jealous," he said immediately. "I mean, he can pull up whenever he wants. He can see you in person every day, hear your voice live. I'm incredibly jealous. I'd kill just to hold your hand right now."

My smile wavered. I'd only been teasing him but now that he'd said it, I was missing him all over again.

"You know I love you, right?" I asked.

He cracked a smile at the camera. "I don't know, you never really mentioned it."

"Well, I do. Like a lot. And I miss you way more than I thought was possible."

He smiled at me, his mouth opening, then closing. He frowned.

"What's that sound?" he asked, pressing his earphones further into his ears.

"Oh, River's having a party, of course," I said, glancing over my shoulder to my bedroom door. Colourful lights flashed beneath them with shadows passing by a sign of the strangers dancing in the hallway.

"Why aren't you out there?" Everett asked, wiggling his brows. "I thought you were a party girl. Don't get too drunk, though. Not unless I'm there."

My lips twitched and I remembered him calling me a cuddly drunk. I thought of the morning I'd woken up pressed against him in his bed after I'd been so drunk that I held him until he fell asleep beside me.

"You thought wrong," I said, holding up my statistics notes. "I'm actually a massive nerd."

"It's why I love you," he teased.

"That's the reason?"

"Well, that and your massive—"

"Everett!"

"—heart. What? What did you think I was going to say?"

"Ah, because it was my heart that you were staring at the day we met," I shot back, raising a brow at him.

His cheeks turned pink, and he looked away for a second, as if just remembering he was sitting in a subway surrounded by people.

"I was staring near your heart. Admiring your beauty," he said simply.

"I seem to remember you having some choice words too. What was it you called me?"

"A gorgeous beauty?" he asked.

"Not quite. Try again."

"Most wonderful woman in the world?"

I laughed. "Yeah, it was definitely along those lines."

He smiled at me, and a speaker muffled some words in the background. The camera shook as he stood and suddenly his face was right against the screen.

"I'm getting off the subway," he said. "Give me a minute."

I nodded and watched in silence as he walked, the phone occasionally pressing up against his chest or turning upside down.

This was what our relationship had become. Stolen moments. Muttered conversations on subways and light rails. The two of us, thousands of miles apart.

And so, I smiled, watching as he made his way through the subway station, and pretended that I was there beside him. I pretended that I wasn't watching through a low-quality screen. No, I was there beside him. I was holding his hand and bumping shoulders with him—two university students walking through New York City together.

Together.

The camera shifted again, and his face was back in view from a low angle. He smiled at me, the sky clear in his background, which was indication enough that he was halfway around the world. It was almost summer in his universe, almost winter in mine.

"I'm back," he said through a grin and I felt my lips twitching to reflect his smile.

"Where are you going?" I asked, leaning my cheek against my palm as I watched him walk. The wind pushed his hair back so that it looked almost like he was sprinting. I wondered how it would feel beneath my fingers at that length.

He took a moment to answer.

"Class," he said.

I frowned, my eyes darting to the date in the corner of my screen. It was May. I knew his schedule. Or—I thought I did. He should have finished his final exams by now. What class was he going to?

"I didn't know you had a class at that time," I started slowly, watching his expression carefully.

"Oh, you know, sometimes they change the times around," he said nonchalantly before quickly adding, "And then I'm thinking of going out for ice cream. The weather's getting hotter, it reminds me of Shellside Bay. Remember that ice cream truck that was always on the edge of the beach?"

He was definitely trying to change the subject.

"That sounds fun," I said before shifting the conversation back. "What class is it?"

"It's a finance class. Really boring," he replied. "What was the name of the chocolate they used to put on the soft serve again?"

"Flake," I said, my voice curt. He was changing the subject. I lifted a brow at him. "I thought you weren't taking any finance classes this semester."

He blinked, glancing down at his phone—at me—before looking away, continuing on his walk.

"Ah, did I say that? Turns out I had to take one course after all," he said. He cleared his throat, glancing at the screen again. "I'm actually almost there. Can we talk later?"

I pursed my lips staring at him through the camera. He didn't look back, only continued walking, his eyes straight ahead. With a sigh, I nodded, although he didn't see it.

"I'll call you when I wake up," I said.

His eyes flickered back, and he shot me a smile. "Love you."

"Love you more."

I hung up before he could sense my disappointment. I dropped the phone onto the mattress, watching dully as it bounced and bounced until it fell still.

He was hiding something from me.

Everett was half-way across the world, sprinting somewhere. Somewhere important. Somewhere he didn't want to tell me about.

And I was here sitting on my bed, studying statistics. What was I doing? This wasn't how it was all supposed to go.

I groaned, slamming my workbook shut and rolling onto my back, covering my face with my hands. Outside my door, the music only grew louder, pounding over the murmur of voices beneath, occasionally interrupted by a shout or a bang of furniture hitting the ground.

This wasn't right. None of this was right. I wasn't supposed to miss Shellside Bay. None of it made sense.

I was supposed to love Sydney. I was supposed to do well in university, and make new friends, and call the Nauti Buoys every morning, and video chat with Everett every night. He was supposed to visit me. I was supposed to visit him.

We weren't supposed to be keeping secrets from each other. We weren't supposed to be ending our calls with hurried goodbyes and shoving our feelings into scattered texts.

My stomach twisted and I was suddenly hit with the fact that I was lonely.

For the first time since my dad's funeral, I felt completely alone.

I didn't have Austin here, holding my hand anymore. I didn't have any of the Nauti Buoys, except River who practically hibernated in his room all day only to get plastered at night.

I didn't even have my mum anymore. She was hours away, probably asleep by now, resting for a morning on the beach before her next shift.

Anyway, it wasn't like she'd understand.

My mum was nothing like my father. Where my dad was warmth and dreams bundled into an ear-splitting smile, with books stacked on his desk about passions he'd never reach, my mum was all about the familiar sands of Shellside Bay.

Shellside Bay was her home. She never dreamed of leaving. Shellside Bay held her childhood memories, her family home, her closest friends, the people she grew up with. Her Everett had died, years ago, and their memories together lay in Shellside Bay. She had her own Austin and Connor waiting for her, and for her, that was enough.

I was beginning to understand her now.

What wouldn't I give to be back in Shellside Bay, surrounding by my friends, Everett by my side for the summer? To visit Isla and lay on the sands until the sun turned our skin hot and faded into hues of orange and purple beyond the horizon.

Hell, even for Mia to steal my surfboard again, calling me names and sending me smirks.

I missed it all.

My hands slid off my face and I turned onto my side, frowning at my stack of pencils and papers at the edge of the mattress.

Groaning, I sat up, sweeping a hand against the bed to toss all my statistics work onto the floor in a heap. I stood, crossing the room to tug a sweater over my head before making for the door.

Maybe I was alone. Maybe Everett was halfway across the world, having fun without me. Maybe Sydney was nothing I'd hoped it to be. But that didn't mean I had to sit here moping.

I tugged the door open and stepped into the hallway.

Into the party.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey guys! Thanks for reading as always! And don't forget to vote and comment! I love reading your thoughts and predictions every week!

Lately I've been rewriting Isla to create a manuscript good enough to submit to agents for publishing, so if any agents are out there reading this hmu lmao Would you read a published version of Isla??

Next time: Isla has a visitor